Quincy Jovan Allen was born on November 7, 1979, in Columbia, South Carolina.

Quincy Jovan Allen began his crime spree after being inspired during his time in federal prison. A fellow inmate told him about a potential job as a Mafia hitman, which led Allen to buy a shotgun when he was released.

On July 7, 2002, Allen attacked a 51-year-old homeless man named James White at Finlay Park in Columbia, South Carolina, shooting him twice while he slept. White survived the attack. Just days later, on July 10, Allen killed 45-year-old Dale Evonne Hall near an I-77 stop, shooting Hall multiple times. After the murder, Allen went to a truck stop, bought gasoline, and returned to set Hall's body on fire.

On August 8, 2002, Allen shot and killed 22-year-old Jedediah "Jed" Harr after a confrontation at Texas Roadhouse. Harr was trying to help an employee named Brian Marquis. Following this, Allen chased Marquis to his home and set the porch on fire. The next day, on August 9, he burned the car of another Texas Roadhouse employee and, shortly after, randomly burned another car.

On August 12, while robbing a Citgo gas station in Dobson, North Carolina, Allen fatally shot two men: 53-year-old Richard Calvin Hawks and 29-year-old Robert Shane Roush. He was arrested on August 14 while sleeping in an abandoned car in Texas.

In prison, on December 2, 2009, Allen, along with another inmate, planned to attack a correctional officer named Nathan Sasser. They used metal shivs and stabbed Sasser multiple times, but he managed to fight them off. Allen and his accomplice tried to escape but faced tear gas and rubber bullets from the guards before being subdued.

After pleading guilty to his crimes, Allen was sentenced to death. His execution date was set for January 8, 2010, but his lawyers filed a stay. Eventually, his death sentence was overturned in 2022. In July 2024, Allen accepted a plea deal that reduced his sentence to life imprisonment in exchange for waiving his right to appeal.