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ATL Homicide Premieres Tonight On TV ONE At 10:00 PM EST... If You Plan On Tuning In, We Got The Goo


The stifling series gives spectators a look at how real-life veteran detectives David Quinn and Vince Velazquez worked together, cracking some of the most horrific murder cases that people from Atlanta, Georgia had seen throughout the 2000’s.

They narrate the scenes in a fiery modus, which gives viewers more of an authentic impression about their lives as decorated officers.

Both Velazquez and David Quinn worked the beat at Atlanta PD, they are the genuine Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh (Lethal Weapon), which made the partnership even more explosive as they darted against time to solve homicide cases in that area.

In the episode premiering tonight, July 9, 2018 10:00 pm EST on TV One, speculators will get to watch firsthand, the ins and outs of a case encompassing the death of Tereon Grant, a single mother that was stabbed to death in the middle of the night August of 2013. All evidence is directed to her ex-boyfriend, but even the detectives know there is more to the story than what meets the eye.

The series is running in aggregation with TV One’s true-crime lineups Fatal Attraction [When love goes wrong], and For My Man [Women killing and committing crimes for their men].

During a recent interview #interruptedblogs spoke with detectives and cast members [reenacting the murder mysteries ] surrounding their unique cases, and the affects that it had on them as not just officers, but civilians in the community, especially if they narrowly put an innocent person away for a crime that he or she did not commit.

Quinn and Velazquez

“Seeking the truth and possibly getting the wrong person is the horror of all horrors,” said Velazquez. “ That’s not something you will find in the law enforcement. With me and my partner, Quinn, we prided ourselves on killing our health if we had to, in finding the truth. There were certain instances we thought we had the right the person, and we kept unraveling and peeling back the onion. We found out if we hadn’t gone the extra mile, we would’ve arrested the wrong person. From that aspect, it’s almost emotional when you’re talking about taking someone’s life. I’m talking about in terms of imprisonment. Our victims have already lost their life. You don’t wanna take the wrong person’s life. With me and Quinn, it was a no brainer for us. We were going to work this day and night, and sometimes, the week of the trial to make sure we had it right.”

Scene from ATL Homicide

Quinn was also very vocal... “There is an episode that you will see this season. I won’t give it away [but], you’ll see that as we go down the road. As we look at a suspect you’ll quickly find that it may not be our right guy. We would rather let a killer walk free than to put an innocent man in prison. We can still try and get the killer later. There’s no remedy for having an innocent man sitting in prison for the rest of his life. We take that very seriously. Any case that we work, [though] I can’t speak for the actors, but I know they know from the cases. They had to learn these cases. We lived the cases, [and] they had to learn them to portray [us] on the series. They learned about the struggles we had going down the road; and to your point, I strongly believe till this day that there are people in prison who are wrongly convicted of murder. I do believe there are people sitting in prison today, and that’s an injustice that should never happen. Again, we would rather let a killer walk free than to allow an innocent man go to prison."

In its own marveling way, the series is a very sensitive cabaret, that Chris Diaz had words to share as well.

“As far as the script, there is a moment on both sides of the table, and there is one episode where Quin knew the guy was an innocent. It wasn’t the [right] guy but we kept going, and Vince was on his side even though the other detectives just wanted to lock this guy up. They knew they needed to find more evidence before locking that guy up. On the other side of the spectrum, we knew this lady was our target, and she got off free, but you know that it’s her.

“That speaks volumes on what Chris is referring to without giving so much information on one of the very first episodes that we had the privilege of working on,” said Angelo Diaz “That set a presidents for us of who these guys are and who these guys aren’t. They took a lot of pride to do their due diligence, and you gotta understand that these guys were the younger detectives coming into a department ran by veterans, ran by people who already put that work in. Quin and 'Vinny' came in bucking the system basically, for the right reasons,” Angelo continued to revere the inspectors for their impeccable efforts.

“They were intent on doing their due diligence and making sure they had the right guy or girl, and doing whatever they had to do. Like Quin and 'Vinny (Vince Velazquez)' both said, no matter what came to their health or their personal life to get that done. 'Vinny (Vince Velazquez)' was one of the first guys, we’re talking about analog and digital-- 'Vinny (Vince Velazquez)' was one of the first guys to use phone inscriptions and modern phone technology, to be able to attack and make sure they got the right person. These are guys that take a lot of pride in doing their due-diligence. We learned that very early on with some of the very first story-lines. Ever since then we knew that this is who we are as far as approaching the show. We’re going to make sure that we have the right guy.”

According to Tosha Whitten-Griggs (TV One SVP of Public Relations), the show is a bump up from what they typically do in the true-crime programming.

Executive in charge of production at TV One, Tia Smith said, “We’re really excited as Tosha said, about ATL Homicide being part of our true crime lineup. The proof is in the pudding. We have amazing talent and detectives, that have over 30-years of partnership together. They definitely take us on a journey. They are there to take us through the grievance of all the crime that is seen in ATL or the ones we pinpointed and green-lit, and also how to solve these cases. I love their personalities. That’s the biggest thing that really caught us. You have them acting as the ying and the yang of a situation. I know that David and Vince call each other analogue and digital. They both have their respective things that they bring to the table to bring justice to the families, to solve cases. So, the talent is undeniable. We’ve partnered with Jupiter entertainment and Wide Net production with Rob (Kerr) and Sedg (Tourison). It’s just an amazing team that came together to do something really fantastic. We can’t wait for you to see it. Thank you for supporting it,” Smith finished.

Velazquez couldn’t contain his elation about productions.

“When David and I started working homicide together in November of 2000, never in a million years did we think we would have a show. We worked every case the same way throughout our careers. I think when this case started coming to light, we have always been surprised when people tell us that we are a cool team that get things done. We always wondered why, because that should be the norm. Most people should be that way."

David Quinn is humbled that TV ONE and Jupiter selected them to do the show, especially while they were at the ends of their careers.

“It’s an amazing journey, but at the same time, to have professionals take your life and put them on the screen is amazing. The talent that they found in Angelo Diaz(recreation actor playing David Quinn) and Chris Diaz (recreation actor playing Vincent Velazquez), who embodied our real life characters. They were getting every nuance after about episode number six. It was eerie watching them."

“We took every investigations back to the streets. We gave it the neighborhood—and we gave the neighborhood something that sometimes lack in law enforcement, and that’s respect. It’s their neighborhood. It’s their tragedy. We’re [just] there to cultivate the evidence that can take these kinds of cases, these tragedies to trial, and give families some peace,” he echoed.

During the feature, audiences will quickly realize that their relationship is nothing short of fabulous. The duo communicates in a language that they both understand. Velasquez is the frank and cavalier detective, while Quinn is the quiet and observant investigator, which makes their partnership fairly easy. They are complete opposites, who can feed off each other, instead of dominating the scene with macho competition. They are both there for the same reason, to solve cases, and give families closure about their loved ones who were brutally murdered.

“I think what’s important to the series, is that you’ll see black and brown men who are in a positive light, who take this business of solving crimes serious. It’s never going to be a 9 to 5 with us. It never was. That’s the energy and authenticity that you will see on TV with us," Velazquez reflected. "As I’m sitting here, today, talking to you—As I woke up this morning, and as David goes about his business every day, it’s not an act. We are who we are. I think that’s what you don’t see when you watch crime shows. I think you see this cookie cutter of image of detectives being a certain way. We’ve never been that way. I think people can appreciate that we are who we are. We are genuine. We’ve always been serious about solving a case. There’s to no lengths we wouldn’t go, [and] there’s no place on the earth we wouldn’t travel if we thought we could solve a case. I don’t know if you see that a lot. God bless everybody else in the country that does this job. We don’t know them. We don’t work with them. We don’t talk about what we do or what we did. I think that’s what you’re going to see in this serious. You’re going to see just some real dudes out there grinding.

Angelo Diaz and Chris Diaz agreed that it's a wonderful experience to embody the essence and swag of detectives Velazquez and Quinn.

They both have a newfound appreciation for detective work after researching and experiencing Velazquez and Quinn as gallant officers, upholding the law.

Chris stated… “It takes so much to be a detective. You can’t just make a decision like that because you can ruin someone’s life, so taking that into perspective’ you have to be really diligent and careful with your decisions."

“For sure,” Angelo harmonized. “Not only did it give us a lot of insight, I think it’ll give whoever is viewing a lot of insight. Hopefully, it reaches the masses. The glamor of it and the way other shows, they’re [TV ONE] speaking more of a documentary style perspective to it. You get to see them relate to it, and you can see the passion in their eyes. You see the passion and you hear the passion in Quinn’s voice when he’s explaining it to you. We’re also breaking it down into their personal life. You can see what it looks like when a detective is trying to cook a meal for his family. He gets a phone call that can make or break a whole case. At that point, he’s got to make a decisions and call back in.

Rudolph Fischman (Jupiter Entertainment) believes that the show will change perspectives regarding true-crime shows. He said that they selected stories that would highlight the most twist and turns, and the stories that would highlight the passion behind each detective.

According to Rob Kerr (Wide Net Entertainment, it was equally important to make a film that’s new and exciting, with a subplot surrounding the lives of the detectives as well so tune in.

 

ABOUT TV ONE

Launched in January 2004, TV Oneserves 59 million households, offering a broad range of real-life and entertainment-focused original programming, classic series, movies and music designed to entertain and inform a diverse audience of adult black viewers. The network represents the best in black culture and entertainment with fan favorite shows Unsung, Rickey Smiley For Real, Fatal Attraction, and The NAACP Image Awards. In addition, TV One is the cable home of the blockbuster television drama Empire. TV One is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Urban One, Inc., formerly known as Radio One, Inc. [NASDAQ: UONE and UONEK, www.urban1.com], the largest African-American owned multi-media company primarily targeting Black and urban audiences.


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