A DeKalb County jury on Friday convicted a rapper from Ohio in the shooting death of a fellow rapper he had considered his friend.
Qamar “Q Money” Williams, 26, was seen standing over the body of Calvin “Scotty” Chappell holding a gun on the morning of April 15, 2019, witnesses told DeKalb police. Prosecutors said Williams and Chappell went to a club the night before, and Williams opened fire on his friend as he slept on the living room floor of a home on Lehigh Way.
Chappell was shot more than a half-dozen times, including to his head, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He was 24.
Williams and Chappell were both up-and-coming on the music scene in Cleveland, Ohio. Williams, known for his 2018 single “Neat,” found a streaming hit with his song “Work,” which has amassed more than 13 million views on YouTube. He has nearly 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
According to authorities, Chappell had been staying at the Lehigh Way home with his cousin before his death. He and Williams, along with several other friends, returned to the home around 5 a.m. April 15 after a night out, and Chappell fell asleep on an air mattress.
Prosecutors said was shot an hour later when Williams came back from a fast-food run and “crept up on the victim as he slept.” A witness ran to get Chappell’s cousin, and together he and the cousin forced Williams from the home with his gun still in hand, according to a police report. They locked the door behind him.
Williams was identified as a suspect within days of the killing, but prosecutors could never pin down an exact motive.
“The incident was captured on home surveillance video,” a spokesperson for District Attorney Sherry Boston said in the release. “The investigation revealed defendant Williams was aware of the video recording because he tried to shoot and disable the camera before shooting and killing the victim. He also called one of his friends later that day asking him to delete the video.”
Williams was found guilty of malice murder and two counts of felony murder, as well as single counts each of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime and possession of a weapon as a felon. He has a prior felony conviction out of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, from 2014 for drug trafficking, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
A sentencing hearing for Williams has not been set.
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