American rapper Silento received a 30-year prison sentence for the murder of his relative Frederick Rooks III.
Known for his 2015 hit song Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae), the 27-year-old rapper entered a guilty plea to counts of aggravated assault and handgun possession.
The DeKalb County Police Department discovered Rooks, 34, dead from numerous gunshot wounds in January 2021, marking the terrible event. Silento, whose actual name is Richard Lamar Hawk, was last seen with his cousin in a white BMW SUV just before the shooting, according to investigations.
Shortly after the gunshots, the same car was seen driving away from the scene on surveillance tape.
Following his arrest, Silento’s PR manager, Chanel Hudson, disclosed in a statement that the rapper had struggled with mental health issues for several years. “He has been suffering from a series of mental health illnesses for the past several years,” Hudson stated.
Silento’s legal troubles began even before the shooting. In August 2020, he was charged with two counts of assault after allegedly attacking two people with a hatchet in their home.
In a 2019 appearance on the medical talk show The Doctors, Silento opened up about his personal struggles, saying, “I have been fighting demons my whole life. I don’t know if these demons will ever go away.”
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