Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X, slain in Mexico

[NBCNews]

   By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC NewsMalcolm Shabazz, grandson of the late human rights activist Malcolm X, died in Mexico after being beaten during a Wednesday night robbery, friends and American Islamic associations said.

Shabazz, 28, had traveled to Mexico to meet with a leader of a California activist and rights group known as Rumec, according to a report in Talking Points Memo, which quoted the organization's Juan Ruiz. The leader, Miguel Suarez, had been deported last month to Mexico by U.S. officials.

"I do know that Malcolm was involved in human rights and that he had a relationship with a gentleman named Suarez in Mexico," said Imam Dawud Walid, an acquaintance of Shabazz and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan.

Walid said he had confirmed the death through a fellow Imam who had spoken with an aunt of Shabazz.

The imam with whom Walid spoke, Al-Hajj Talib 'Abdur-Rashid of the Muslim Alliance of North America, also confirmed the death Friday through an e-mailed statement.

"Following contact with the Shabazz family, we are now confirming our young brother's demise," he said in the statement. "Reportedly he was killed yesterday morning in Mexico. The family has no official statement at this time, as they strive to cope with the shock and grief of their loss and make arrangements to identify and retrieve his remains. Formal announcement of burial arrangements will follow."

Shabazz is survived by two daughters and his mother.

Numerous attempts to reach Mexican officials were unsuccessful. Friday was Mother's Day in the country and most official offices were closed, including U.S. consular bureaus and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. The State Department would say only that a U.S. citizen had been killed in Mexico City and that it was withholding further comment at the family's request.

Shabazz had a turbulent childhood and adolescence. His mother, Qubilah Shabazz, was indicted on charges of plotting to kill the Nation of  Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who some suspected was involved in  Malcolm X's assassination. Qubilah Shabazz was Malcolm X's second daughter.

In light of his mother's legal and personal troubles, Shabazz was placed at a young age in the custody of Betty Shabazz, his grandmother and Malcolm X's widow. On June 1, 1997, Shabazz, then 12, set a fire in his grandmother's Yonkers, N.Y., apartment that left the woman critically injured. She died later that month from those injuries.

Shabazz pleaded guilty to setting the blaze and was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for manslaughter and arson. That sentence could be re-evaluated every year until he turned 18.

He got out after four years, but two years later, aged 18, he landed in prison on a charge of attempted robbery.

''According to the records, I'm diagnosed with so many things,'' Shabazz told The New York Times in an interview at the time. ''I hear voices, I hear things, I'm schizophrenic, I'm  manic-depressive. I wouldn't be sitting here this calm if those things  were true.''

He added: ''I have goals. I have plans. I want people to know what's going on with me.''

Months after his release in 2006, Shabazz was arrested again after punching a hole in the window of a doughnut shop.

Walid said the Malcolm Shabazz he knew was a young man struggling with the pressure of being the grandson of a famous civil rights warrior.

"I had spoken with him in the past pertaining to the struggles that he had and some of the mistakes that he made in the past as a youth," Walid said. "He spoke of the pressure and the scrutiny that he was under coming from the Shabazz family. It’s a lot for a young man to handle -- also, a lot to live up to. There are a lot of people who expected him to be the reflection of his grandfather, and that's a heavy burden to bear."

He also said that even though he knew of Shabazz' past criminal troubles, he did not see a dark side in the man.

"He had a very mild disposition and was a person who smiled constantly," Walid said. "That’s my interactions with him."

NBC News' Becky Bratu contributed to this report.

NBC News

[Folami David]

The beaters are very cruel is all i can say. What could possibly be the reason that would warrant such heartless behaviour?

[Shola Sholaz]

A country like Mexico should not experience something like this. This is a bad news that no one would love to hear about