December 14, 2020
Read previous MidJersey.News story here: BREAKING: Chaos Continues In City, Shooting Murder Makes #39, And 2 Critical After Stabbing All This Morning
TRENTON, NJ (MERCER)–Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced today that an investigation conducted by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force resulted in an arrest this weekend of a Hamilton man for the November 29 murder of Omar Billups.
Quintin Thompson, 25, is charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree robbery, weapons offenses and theft of movable property. Search warrants were executed Saturday morning at Thompson’s Whitehorse Avenue apartment in Hamilton as well as an apartment on Oakland Street in Trenton. He was taken into custody without incident by the MCHTF, the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Mercer County Tactical Response Team. Multiple items of evidentiary value were recovered from the Oakland Street apartment of Thompson’s girlfriend, Emoni Henderson, including a 9mm Glock 26 handgun. The weapon was equipped with an extended magazine and was loaded with hollow-point rounds. Henderson’s vehicle was located on Oakland Street and seized pending application of a search warrant. Henderson, 22, was also taken into custody without incident and charged with burglary, theft, and related weapons offenses. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain Thompson pending trial.
At approximately 2:50 a.m. on Sunday, November 29, 2020, Trenton police were dispatched to an apartment at 326 Centre Street on report of a male that was shot. Upon arrival, they located the victim, later identified as Billups, on the living room floor with blood coming from the back of his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim’s cellphone and keys were not found inside the apartment during a subsequent search.
During the course of the investigation, task force detectives located area surveillance footage from various sources and spoke with witnesses. They learned that Billups had been driving a white Jeep Cherokee rental vehicle and that Billups had been with Thompson in that vehicle on Friday afternoon, November 28. The white Jeep Cherokee was located and secured by police on South Westfield Avenue on December 4.
Further investigation by detectives tied a second vehicle to Billups’ homicide. At approximately 5 p.m. on Friday, a black Mitsubishi Uplander was seen arriving at the Winding Brook Apartment Complex on Bradford Drive in Hamilton. An individual with similar physical characteristics to Thompson is seen exiting the Mitsubishi and walking toward one of the buildings. That individual returns a short time later and gets back in the Uplander, which then leaves the area.
On November 29, 2020, around 9:10 a.m., Hamilton police responded to an apartment on Bradford Avenue for a reported burglary. When a resident returned from work Saturday morning, she found someone had rummaged through the belongings in the bedroom. The only item missing was a shoe box that belonged to Billups containing a large unspecified amount of cash. Further investigation revealed that Billups had a key to the Bradford Avenue apartment. Both Thompson and Henderson are charged in connection to the burglary and theft of cash in Hamilton.
Despite having been charged, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The names of the Trenton dead of 2020:
Say their names:
- January 30, 2020, Starquasia Harris, 24, shooting
- February 16, 2020, Maurice London, 39, shooting
- March 23, 2020, Danavan Phillips, 37, shooting
- March 25, 2020, Yuell Moore, 29, shooting
- April 5, 2020 Quamiera Massey, 24, shooting
- April 5, 2020 Dabree Brannon, 30, shooting
- April 5, 2020 Frederick Mason, 20, shooting
- May 14, 2020, pronounced dead May 21, 2020 Terrence Horton, 53, shooting
- May 17, 2020, Robert Smith, 38, shooting
- May 18, 2020 Antwuan Bowens, 44, shooting
- May 18, 2020 Tayvion Jones, 18, shooting
- May 21, 2020 Raheen McKinnon 19, shooting
- May 23, 2020, Watson Cogdell, 58, shooting
- May 30, 2020 Tyrone Campbell, 45, shooting
- June 2, 2020 Dontae Barnes, shooting
- June 21, 2020, Robert Neal, 34, stabbing
- July 1, 2020, Covvie Scott, 24, shooting
- July 8, 2020, Richard Guarderas, 18, shooting
- July 8, 2020, Malcom L. Bowser, 19, shooting
- July 15, 2020, Jason Phillips, 23, shooting
- July 17, 2020, Luis Gonzalez, 37, shooting
- August 2, 2020 died August 5, 2020, Jolisa Marshall, 28, shooting (of Hamilton)
- August 9, 2020, William Irrizarry, 18, shooting
- August 9, 2020, Julius Vargas, 18, shooting
- August 17, 2020, Rahkeem Ortiz, 29, shooting
- August 21, 2020, pronounced dead August 22, Vernetta McCray, 39, drive by shooting
- August 25, 2020, Shamira Williams, 32, stabbing
- August 29, 2020, Tybree Washington, 24, shooting
- October 2, 2020, Hussain Abdullah, 35, shooting
- October 5, 2020, Derek Colley, 26, Shooting
- October 10, 2020, Ola Williams, 61, Shooting
- October 10, 2020, Jaquise Melvin, 26, Shooting
- October 16, 2020 from shooting on October 9, Rudy Alvira Jr.
- October 20, 2020, Johnny Perez, 8, Shooting
- October 20, 2020, Gustavo Perez, 16
- November 13, 2020, Sam Livingston III, age 41, stabbing
- November 17, 2020, Jeremy McTamney, 26, Shooting, Ties Trenton’s record of homicides in 2013.
- November 28, 2020, Daniel Alvaranga, 33, Stabbing
- November 29, 2020, Omar Billups, 37, Shooting
- December 8, 2020, Joel Alexander, 49, Shooting
Not in NJ but across the river in Falls Township, Pennsylvania May 24, 2020 Davon Frink, 25, shooting at a Holiday Inn Express at a Trenton party held there.
Current murders in the City of Trenton for 2020 is 40