Silento

Source: Variety / Getty

Atlanta rapper Silentó has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the aggravated manslaughter of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, and other charges related to the 2021 shooting.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced in a news release on Wednesday that Silentó, born Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and concealing the death of another. According to the Associated Press, a murder charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.

For those who are unfamiliar with the downfall of the “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” artist and the violent death of his cousin, here’s a quick rundown as reported by AP:

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 they 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.

In 2020, Silentó, who was a high school junior in 2015 when he released his “Watch Me” smash hit, had been involved in a number of run-ins with the law, some of which involved violence allegedly threatened or committed against others.

In August 2020, he was arrested in Santa Ana, California, on a domestic violence charge. The next day, in Los Angeles, he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after witnesses said he entered a stranger’s home looking for his girlfriend, who wasn’t there, and swung a hatchet at two people before he was disarmed.

In 2019, he made an appearance on the medical talk show The Doctors, where he discussed struggling with depression and witnessing violence and mental illness among his family members growing up.

“I’ve been fighting demons my whole life, my whole life,” he said.

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