Overview

• On June 11, 2025, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson sentenced Hawk to 30 years in prison with credit for time served since his February 2021 arrest.
• Hawk pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter plus related counts of aggravated assault, firearm possession during a crime and concealing a death, prompting prosecutors to drop a felony murder charge.
• Investigators relied on security footage of a white BMW SUV fleeing the Panthersville shooting scene, GPS data linking Hawk’s vehicle to the site and ballistics tests matching casings to a gun seized at his arrest.
• Best known for his 2015 hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” the 27-year-old rapper has a documented history of depression, attempted suicide in 2020 and was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder in custody.
• The sentence closes a four-year legal saga that began after police found Frederick Rooks III, Hawk’s 34-year-old cousin, fatally shot on January 21, 2021.