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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' rapper Silentó gets 30 years after pleading guilty to killing his cousin
DECATUR, Ga. — Silentó, the Atlanta rapper known for his hit song 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),' pleaded guilty but mentally ill Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter and other charges in the 2021 shooting death of his 34-year-old cousin. The 27-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a statement. Hawk also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possessing a gun while committing a crime and concealing the death of another. A murder charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement. DeKalb County police found Frederick Rooks III shot in the leg and face in the early morning hours of Jan. 21, 2021 outside a home in a suburban area near Decatur. Police said the found 10 bullet casings near Rooks' body, and security video from a nearby home showed a white BMW SUV speeding away shortly after the gunshots. A family member of Rooks told police that Silentó had picked up Rooks in a white BMW SUV, and GPS data and other cameras put the vehicle at the site of the shooting. Silentó confessed about 10 days later after he was arrested, police said. Ballistics testing matched the bullet casings to a gun that Silentó had when he was arrested, authorities said. Rooks' brothers and sisters told DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson before sentencing that Silentó should have gotten a longer sentence, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The rapper was a high school junior in suburban Atlanta in 2015 when he released 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' and watched it skyrocket into a dance craze. Silentó made multiple other albums, but said in an interview with the medical talk show 'The Doctors' in 2019 that he struggled with depression and had grown up in a family where he witnessed mental illness and violence. 'I've been fighting demons my whole life, my whole life,' he said in 2019. 'Depression doesn't leave you when you become famous, it just adds more pressure,' Silentó said then, urging others to get help. 'And while everybody's looking at you, they're also judging you." 'I don't know if I can truly be happy, I don't know if these demons will ever go away.' Silentó had been struggling in the months before the arrest. His publicist, Chanel Hudson, has said he had tried to kill himself in 2020. In August 2020, Silentó was arrested in Santa Ana, California, on a domestic violence charge. The next day, the Los Angeles Police Department charged him with assault with a deadly weapon after witnesses said he entered a home where he didn't know anyone looking for his girlfriend and swung a hatchet at two people before he was disarmed. In October 2020, Silentó was arrested after police said they clocked him driving 143 miles per hour (230 kilometers per hour) on Interstate 85 in DeKalb County. Hudson said at the time of Silentó's arrest in the killing of Rooks that he had been 'suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses.'
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' rapper Silentó sentenced to 30 years in cousin's murder
The rapper Silentó, known for his viral hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 2021 shooting death of his cousin.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' rapper Silentó sentenced to 30 years in cousin's murder, lawyer speaks out
The rapper Silentó, known for his viral hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 2021 shooting death of his cousin. Ricky Lamar Hawk, 27, who performs as Silentó, entered the plea on Wednesday for charges including voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and concealing the death of another, according to DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston. "This was not a crime of passion or a crime of a morally depraved person. He was mentally ill," Hawk's attorney, Keith Adams, told ABC News. "Unfortunately, Ricky's mental illness has been an issue since the age of 12, even during his success as an artist and beyond." The charges stem from the Jan. 21, 2021, shooting of Frederick Rooks III, 34, who was found with multiple gunshot wounds at the intersection of Deep Shoals Circle and Corners Crossing in the Panthersville area of unincorporated Decatur, Georgia. According to police, several neighbors reported hearing gunshots, and security footage captured a white BMW SUV fleeing the scene. MORE: Baby dies in sweltering car as temperatures hit 90 degrees, foster parent faces charges Authorities say a family member shared that Hawk had picked up Rooks in the same BMW SUV from a friend's home shortly before the incident. Police later matched bullet casings from the scene to a gun found in Hawk's possession, and GPS data placed his vehicle at the location of the shooting, the DeKalb County Police Department said. "The benefit of him pleading to voluntary manslaughter is that it makes him eligible for parole sometime within the next decade or so," Adams explained. "If he had been convicted of murder, he would not have been eligible for parole for at least 30 years." Due to the nature of his plea, Hawk will likely be placed in a facility equipped to address his mental health needs. "His plea of guilty but mentally ill acknowledges his mental illness, and it instructs the Department of Corrections to place him not in a regular prison, but in a facility that will treat his mental illness," Adams said. Hawk will be transferred to the Georgia Diagnostic Center in Jackson, Georgia, located about an hour outside Atlanta, where all state prisoners undergo initial processing. According to Adams, officials there will determine his permanent placement among the state's specialized mental health facilities. "I'm hoping that he won't be at the Diagnostic Center for too long, because they're already familiar with his mental health issues," Adams said. "I expect within the next month to two months, he'll be placed where he's supposed to be." Adams expressed hope for his client's future. "No one is beyond redemption... I think he has an opportunity to come out and resume his position as a productive member of society, while properly being treated for his mental health." 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' rapper Silentó sentenced to 30 years in cousin's murder, lawyer speaks out originally appeared on
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' rapper Silentó gets 30 years for manslaughter of cousin
Silentó, the Atlanta rapper best known for the viral 2015 hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty but mentally ill in the 2021 shooting death of his cousin in Georgia. The rapper, real name Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, in addition to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during commission of a crime and concealing a death, DeKalb County Dist. Atty. Sherry Boston said in a statement. Read more: 'Whip/Nae Nae' rapper charged in attempted hatchet attack Hawk, 27, confessed to the killing when police took him into custody about 10 days after Rooks, 34, was found in the wee hours on Jan. 21, 2021, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, Boston said. Emergency medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene, the statement said. Video and GPS evidence tied Hawk to the crime, Boston said. A relative of Rooks told authorities that the victim had last been seen with Hawk. The day Hawk was arrested, his then-publicist Chanel Hudson posted a note asking for prayers for her client and explaining that in recent years he had "been suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses" and would continue his "efforts of treatment." In 2016, Hawk was nominated under his stage name for the BET Awards' YoungStars Award along with Amandla Stenberg, Quvenzhané Wallis, Willow Smith and Yara Shahidi. The honor went to Stenberg, the actor famous for playing Rue in the movie "The Hunger Games." Read more: The strange history behind Brian Wilson's lost rap song 'Smart Girls' Hawk went on the syndicated show "The Doctors" in 2019 wearing a sparkling, Michael Jackson-style jacket and talked about how he was born with "all type of drugs" in his system and had felt depressed his whole life. He moved in with a great aunt in 2014, he said, and was prescribed ADHD medication without an ADHD diagnosis. Viral fame came a few years later. "Depression doesn't leave you when you become famous," Hawk said on the show, which positioned him as a brave inspiration to his peers with mental illness. "It just adds more pressure. And while everybody's looking at you, they're also judging you." Things took a dark turn next, however, with Hawk getting arrested in Southern California in late summer 2020 on domestic violence allegations of inflicting corporal punishment on a spouse or cohabitant in Santa Ana. Then, while out on bail for that incident the first week of September 2020, he was arrested again in Los Angeles and charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon (not a firearm) after he allegedly entered the Valley Village home of two strangers and threatened them with a hatchet. Read more: Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis dies after battle with breast cancer As of Thursday that case was still ongoing in Los Angeles County Superior Court with the next hearing scheduled for September. The assistant district attorney handling that case did not reply immediately to The Times' request for an update. Also Thursday, nine years after it dropped, Silentó's music video for "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" was in the neighborhood of 2 billion views on YouTube. "Remember when at one point this was playing in every single car around the world," one commenter said four years ago. It was unclear whether that was posted before or after Rooks was killed. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Platinum-selling rapper gets 30 years in prison for killing cousin in 2021
Silentó, the rapper known for his 2015 smash single 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),' was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of his cousin in Georgia four years ago. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson sentenced Silentó, 27, on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and concealing the death of another in connection with the shooting death of his 34-year-old cousin, Frederick Rooks III, on Jan. 21, 2021. A felony murder charge was dropped, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The shooting occurred at the intersection of Deep Shoals Circle and Corners Crossing in Panthersville, Georgia, around 3:37 a.m., according to the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney. Responding officers found Rooks suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Ten bullet casings were found near his body as well, investigators discovered. Several neighbors told authorities they heard gunshots that night while a white BMW SUV was caught leaving the scene a few minutes after the gunfire. One of Rooks' family members told police that he was last seen with his cousin, who had picked Rooks up from a friend's home in a white BMW SUV. Silentó, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, was arrested on Feb. 1, 2021. After his arrest, Hawk's publicist at the time, Chanel Hudson, said the rapper had been dealing with mental health issues. 'Please send my client Silentó some positive vibrations,' Hudson wrote in an Instagram post at the time. 'Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental illnesses. We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask in the meantime the public [to] uplift him and his family in immediate prayer & positive energy,' Hudson wrote. 'Ricky is a beautiful soul, and we hope that the same people who came up whippin' and nay naying with him, continue to support him and lifted in prayer. God bless.' The rapper admitted to shooting Rooks during an interview with investigators, the district attorney's office said. In addition, the bullet casings found at the crime scene matched the gun found in Hawk's possession at the time of his arrest. GPS data for Hawk's white BMW SUV also placed the vehicle at the scene of the killing. Hawk has been in custody at the DeKalb County Jail since his arrest. It is unclear where he will serve his sentence. Pop band's member, 64, falls 'seriously ill' ahead of upcoming arena tour Legendary songwriter, co-founder of iconic '60s band dies at 82 Music superstar hilariously reacts to bra thrown at him during Mass. show Popular folk rock band's frontman abruptly walks off stage mid-song Australian singer, rapper The Kid LAROI to headline The Big E Arena this fall Read the original article on MassLive.
