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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Rapper Silento charged with murder

    Rapper Silento charged with murder

    Rapper Silento was arrested on February 1, 2021 for fatally shooting his older cousin outside of Atlanta last month.

    23-year-old Richard Lamar Hawk, better know as Silento, was charged with murder in the Jan. 21 shooting death of Frederick Rooks, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.

    Silento became famous back in 2015 when he dropped his hit song “Watch me (whip/Nae Nae)” which has received 1.8 billion views on YouTube.

    Everyone in America was listening to the song and dancing along to it.

    Surveillance footage found by investigators showed several cars fleeing the scene and at least one gunshot, however, a motive is unclear for the fatal shooting.

    Silento has had several recent run-ins with the law leading up to his arrest, including two busts in one week last August in California. In one of the cases, Silento allegedly broke into a random Los Angeles home carrying a hatchet in search of his girlfriend.

    Chanel Hudson, who identified herself as Silento’s publicist, is asking for prayers for the rapper and his family. She described Silento as “a beautiful soul.”

    In an Instagram post, she says, “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.”

    Frederick was found with several gunshot wounds in a residential neighborhood in Panthersville. He was pronounced dead on January 21, when police arrived on Deep Shoals Circle shortly after 3:30 a.m. to investigate a report of shots fired. He had multiple gunshot wounds to his face and his leg, and officers found eight spent shell casings lying nearby.

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