27-year-old Ricky Lamar Hawk, who uses the rap moniker Silentó, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the fatal shooting of his cousin.
A news release from the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney in Georgia announced that Silentó pleaded guilty but mentally ill to Voluntary Manslaughter, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime, and Concealing the Death of Another for the killing of 34-year-old Frederick Rooks III. The incident took place on January 21, 2021, in Decatur. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston stated that an investigation into the crime revealed that DeKalb County police officers discovered Rooks riddled with multiple gunshot wounds in the Panthersville area around 3:37 a.m. after responding to a report of a person being shot there. After emergency medical workers arrived, they declared him deceased. There were 10 bullet casings found near his body.
Surveillance footage from a nearby home showed a white BMW leaving the scene of the crime several minutes after the gunfire. A family member told police that he was picked up by Silentó bv from someone’s house in a white BMW SUV.
Police officers took Silentó into custody nearly two weeks later, on February 1. While speaking to investigators, the rapper admitted that he shot his cousin.
After he was arrested, ballistics testing matched the bullet casings that were retrieved from the scene of the shooting to a gun Silentó had when he was detained. GPS data for his BMW placed him at the scene of the murder.
The Associated Press reported that the rapper stated years ago, during an interview in 2019, that he struggled with depression and mental illness growing up.
“I’ve been fighting demons my whole life, my whole life.”
“Depression doesn’t leave you when you become famous; it just adds more pressure.”
He reportedly tried to commit suicide in 2020. In August 2020, the rapper was arrested in Santa Ana, California, for domestic violence. Two months later, in October 2020, Silentó was arrested after police accused him of driving 143 miles per hour on Interstate 85 in DeKalb County.
After Silentó’s arrest for killing Rooks, his publicist said he had been “suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses.”
Silento recorded a hit record when he released “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” in 2015.
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