Ricky Lamar Hawk, known to many as Silentó, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison following a guilty plea related to the death of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, in 2021.
The 27-year-old Atlanta rapper pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possessing a gun during the commission of a crime, and concealing the death of another.
As part of a plea agreement, a murder charge was dropped.
The incident occurred on January 21, 2021, when the DeKalb County Police Department responded to reports of gunfire and found Hawk’s cousin suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Rooks, 34, was discovered with 10 bullet casings found nearby and was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office, security footage captured a white BMW SUV fleeing the area shortly after the gunshots were fired.
Investigators confirmed that the vehicle matched the one used by Hawk to pick up Rooks earlier that night.
Hawk was arrested on February 1, 2021, after he admitted to investigators that he shot Rooks.
Ballistics testing later linked the casings to the weapon found in Hawk’s possession at the time of his arrest.
During the sentencing, Rooks’ siblings expressed their disappointment, telling Judge Courtney L. Johnson that they felt Hawk deserved a longer sentence.
Hawk gained fame in 2015 while still in high school when he released the viral hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” which initiated a nationwide dance craze.
Despite his initial success, Hawk discussed his ongoing struggles with mental health in a 2019 interview on the medical talk show “The Doctors.”
He revealed that he had been battling depression for most of his life and noted that fame did not alleviate his struggles but added more pressure.
Hawk candidly shared, “I don’t know if I can truly be happy, I don’t know if these demons will ever go away,” highlighting the burden of mental illness, particularly in the public eye.
In the lead-up to his arrest, reports indicate that Hawk faced various personal challenges.
His publicist, Chanel Hudson, disclosed that he attempted suicide in 2020, marking a period of intense suffering from mental health issues.
Additionally, Hawk encountered legal trouble prior to the homicide charges, including a domestic violence arrest in August 2020, where he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after brandishing a hatchet during an incident involving strangers.
He was also arrested that same year for driving at an excessive speed of 143 miles per hour on Interstate 85.
Hudson stated that at the time of his arrest for the killing, Hawk was undergoing severe mental health challenges and struggling to cope.
As he begins his lengthy prison sentence, the case serves as a tragic example of the intersection of mental health struggles and violence within the context of fame.
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