LITHONIA, Ga. — Ricky Lamar Hawk, a rapper known professionally as Silentó, was sentenced for shooting and killing his cousin.
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Silentó is known for the song “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).”
Hawk pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the death of Frederick Rooks III, our sister station at WSB reported.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison
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On Jan. 21, 2021, the DeKalb County Police Department arrived around 3:37 a.m. and found Rooks with multiple gunshot wounds. He died from his injuries.
Police said Family members said Rooks was last seen with Hawk.
He had picked Rooks up from a friend’s home in the same kind of vehicle that was seen in the surveillance footage.
In a statement on social media, Chanel Hudson, who identified herself as Silento’s publicist to local media, asked for the public to send her client “some positive vibrations.” Hudson said Hawks has been “suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses.”
Hudson described him as a “beautiful soul, and we hope that the same people whippin’ and nay naying with him, continue to support him and lifted in prayer!”
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