DECATUR, Ga. — Silentó, a once-celebrated rapper who gained fame for the viral hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)”, has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his cousin in 2021. Ricky Lamar Hawk, Silentó’s real name, now faces a 30-year prison sentence as stated by DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.
Beyond the charge of voluntary manslaughter, the rapper admitted to aggravated assault, possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, and concealing the death of another individual. A murder charge was withdrawn as part of his plea agreement.
The case traces back to January 21, 2021, when DeKalb County police officers discovered the body of Frederick Rooks III with gunshot wounds to both his leg and face. The incident took place in the suburban outskirts of Decatur. Evidence gathered included ten bullet casings near the body and security footage showing a white BMW SUV quickly vacating the scene shortly after shots were fired.
A relative of the victim indicated to police that Silentó had been with Rooks in a white BMW SUV. GPS data, combined with surveillance cameras, confirmed the vehicle’s presence at the crime scene.
Approximately ten days after the incident, Silentó was arrested and confessed to the crime. Ballistics tests later demonstrated that the casings matched a firearm in Silentó’s possession at the time of his arrest.
Before sentencing, Frederick Rooks’ siblings appealed to DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson, advocating for a harsher sentence for Silentó, according to a report by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The rapper, who first captured public attention in 2015 as a high school junior in suburban Atlanta with “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” later opened up about his ongoing battle with depression. In a 2019 interview on the show “The Doctors,” he recounted growing up surrounded by mental illness and violent episodes within his family. “I’ve been fighting demons my whole life,” Silentó revealed, adding that fame only intensified the challenges of his mental health struggles.
Silentó candidly admitted to the sustained impacts of his battle with mental health, articulating doubts about the possibility of achieving true happiness and wondering if relief from his internal struggles was attainable.
The months preceding the arrest were particularly tumultuous for Silentó, as communicated by his publicist, Chanel Hudson. Silentó had reportedly attempted suicide in 2020.
In August 2020, he was apprehended in Santa Ana, California, on charges related to domestic violence. Soon after, the Los Angeles Police Department accused him of assault with a deadly weapon after an incident involving a hatchet. Witnesses alleged he had unlawfully entered a residence searching for his girlfriend and swung the weapon at two individuals.
Further compounding his legal troubles, Silentó was arrested again in October 2020 for driving at an alarmingly high speed of 143 miles per hour on Interstate 85 in DeKalb County.
Hudson remarked on Silentó’s deep struggles with mental health conditions, characterizing his situation as extremely distressing at the time of his arrest for Rooks’ death.