Richard “Ricky” Lamar Hawk is facing a murder conviction in DeKalb County, Georgia. The 23-year-old Lithonia resident, better known as Silentó, is accused of killing his own family member.
According to TMZ, Silentó’s legal team is requesting a judge set his bond at $25,000. The “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” performer reportedly insisted he will not be a flight risk if he is released from jail.
DeKalb County police officers found the entertainer’s 34-year-old cousin, Frederick Rooks, dead with multiple gunshot wounds on January 21. Silentó was later arrested in February and charged with felony murder.
“Please send my client Silentó some positive vibrations,” posted Silentó’s publicist Chanel Hudson after he was taken into custody. “Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses.”
Hudson continued, “We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask in the meantime the public uplift him and his family in immediate prayer & positive energy!! Ricky is a beautiful soul and we hope that the same people who came up whippin’ & nay naying with him, continue to support him and lifted in prayer!! God bless.”
That same month, Silentó’s entertainment attorney Bernie Lawrence-Watkins claimed the Atlanta-bred rapper needed a psychiatric evaluation while he was incarcerated. Silentó has been very open about his lifelong battle with depression.
“I’ve been fighting demons my whole life. I was born with weed, coke, heroin, pills, all type of drugs in my system,” said Silentó on an episode of The Doctors talk show in 2019. He added, “I have felt like I’ve been depressed my whole life.”
Silentó was involved in multiple legal issues over the last two years. In 2020, he was detained in Los Angeles County following two separate violent incidents. Last August, Silentó was charged with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant. The following day he was arrested again in Los Angeles for assault with a deadly weapon.
