Rapper Silento Charged with Murdering His Cousin
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Silento
Silento, the rapper behind the smash hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to the death of his cousin, Frederick Rooks.
The 23-year-old star, whose legal name is Richard "Ricky" Lamar Hawk, was taken into custody on Monday, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.
Online jail records show that he is currently being held DeKalb County Jail on one count of felony murder.
It is unclear if Silento has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images Silento
RELATED: Rapper Silento Charged with Assault After Allegedly Attacking 2 Strangers with a Hatchet
On Jan. 21, Rooks, 34, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the middle of a residential street in Panthersville, Georgia, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
DeKalb police Lt. Rod Bryant told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time that investigators believed Rooks knew the residents from one of the houses in the neighborhood.
"We're still doing a little bit more investigation," he said. "The people in the house know him, but he really don't live there, so we're trying to see what's going on."
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Silento's arrest in comes four months after he was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in Los Angeles.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Silento had walked into an unlocked stranger's home and tried to hit two people with a hatchet before one of them was able to disarm him.
Silento was out on bail for another arrest in Santa Ana, California, at the time of the incident, prosecutors said.
A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Department later told PEOPLE that Silento had been booked on Aug. 28 on felony inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant in a domestic violence incident.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
