Rapper Silento arrested after walking into stranger’s home with hatchet

One of the occupants reportedly had a gun and was able to disarm him.

Sep 3, 2020

Rapper Silentó — who went viral in 2015 with his hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” — is facing felony charges after entering a stranger’s home looking for his girlfriend while carrying a hatchet.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the 22-year-old artist, real name Richard Lamar Hawk, was taken into custody on Saturday (Aug. 29) after walking into a random, unlocked residence in the Valley Village area of Los Angeles, where he tried to attack two people with the hatchet, XXL reports.

One of the occupants reportedly had a gun and was able to disarm him.

Hawk’s girlfriend did not live in the home. TMZ notes that Hawk’s friend arrived shortly after and informed him he was in the wrong house. The two reportedly fled as the police were called. Officers caught up with Hawk and took him to jail.

The homeowners and their children were home at the time of the harrowing intrusion and luckily no one was harmed. According to.a report from ABC 7, Hawk is now facing two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, the LAPD said in a news release.

If convicted as charged, he could spend up to six years in state prison. Prosecutors are seeking a enhanced sentence because the crime was committed while Hawk was out on bail for a previous arrest in Santa Ana.

A day prior to the hatchet incident, he was taken into custody after a domestic disturbance. He was charged with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and released, according to the report. The next day he went looking for his girlfriend with a hatchet.

Hawk is in custody on $105,000 bail, and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday (Sept. 4).

“Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” was a social media phenomenon in 2015, and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single has been certified six-times Platinum.

Hawk released an album, “Fresh Outta High School,” in 2018.

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!