American singer, Silento has bagged 30 years imprisonment for killing his cousin.
The 27-year-old “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” star, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a statement Wednesday, June 11.
He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and concealing the death of another in connection with the death of his cousin, 34-year-old Frederick Rooks III.
According to the DeKalb County Police Department, officers arrived at the scene around 3:37 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2021, and found Rooks suffering from multiple gunshot wounds at the intersection of Deep Shoals Circle and Corners Crossing in the Panthersville area.
By the time EMS arrived, Rooks was pronounced dead. Investigators recovered 10 bullet casings near his body.
A relative told officers that Hawk and Rooks were last seen together after the rapper picked Rooks up from a friend’s home in a white BMW SUV.
The same vehicle was captured on a neighbor’s home security footage, fleeing the area at a high rate of speed minutes after the other residents heard the gunfire.
Hawk admitted to shooting his cousin on Feb. 1, 2021, after he was taken into custody.
After the arrest, his PR manager, Chanel Hudson, released a statement asking for prayers for her client.
“Please send my client Silentó some positive vibrations,” she said, per Fox 5 Atlanta. “Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses. We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask in the meantime the public uplift him and his family in immediate prayer and positive energy!”
“Ricky is a beautiful soul, and we hope that the same people who came up whipping’ & nay nay-in with him, continue to support him and lifted in prayer!! God bless,” Hudson continued.
People