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Rapper Silento aka Ricky Hawk has been arrested for the murder of his cousin Frederick Rooks.
In a statement, Georgia’s DeKalb County Police Department tweeted, “Today, Ricky Hawk, 23, was arrested for the murder of his cousin Frederick Rooks, 34. On January 21, the DeKalb County Police Department investigated Rooks’ death after he was found shot on Deep Shoals Circle. Hawk is in the DeKalb County Jail charged with Murder.”
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, police found Rooks dead after responding to a shots-fired call at 3:30 a.m. on January 21.
After combing through multiple residents’ security cameras, “DKPD detectives identified Hawk as Rooks’ cousin, and the person responsible for Rooks’ murder,” DeKalb police spokesman Michaela Vincent said in a statement.
Jail records show that Hawk was held without bond on late Monday.
Over the past year, Hawk has had several run-ins with the law. In August, he was booked for assault with a deadly weapon after walking into a stranger’s home in Valley Village, California.
He allegedly swung a hatchet at the two people who were inside before one was able to disarm him. A day before that, he was arrested for domestic violence for an incident at a Santa Ana home.
In October, Hawk was arrested for driving over 140 mph in DeKalb County. The incident report quoted Hawk saying, “If there is like 10 cars following me, I can do 143 because I am not a regular person, and you could go look on your computer and it would tell you that.”
Silento is most known for his hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” which hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015.