Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of civil rights activist Malcolm X, was killed in an apparent robbery in Mexico City, according to USA Today. Shabazz, 28, was in Mexico to meet with a leader of Rumec, a California-based rights group, according to Talking Points Memo.
A member of Rumec, Juan Ruiz, spoke with Talking Points Memo about the death of Shabazz.
"He was murdered. He was in Mexico City and I believe they attempted to rob him and he didn't allow it, so they beat him to death and he died on his way to the hospital," Ruiz said. "That is all I can confirm, everything else is under investigation for the meantime."
Terrie Williams, a family friend who had worked closely with Shabazz in recent years, confirmed his death on her Twitter.
I'm confirming, per US Embassy, on bhalf of family, the tragic death of Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X.Statement frm family 2 come
— Terrie M. Williams (@TerrieWilliams) May 9, 2013
"I mentored him and he did a lot of work with us in terms of speaking to young people," Williams said. "He was a very, very powerful brother."
Shabazz led a troubled life. At age 12, he plead guilty to second-degree arson and second-degree manslaughter for starting the fire that killed his grandmother, Malcolm X's widow Betty Shabazz, according to USA Today.
That would be the first of many legal problems for Shabazz.Imam Dawud Wali, an acquaintance of Shabazz and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations spoke to NBC news about the ordeals Shabazz went through.
"I had spoken with him in the past pertaining to the struggles 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 being part of 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."
Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, the imam of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, spoke of how Shabazz had seemed to turn his life around from his past troubles when speaking with NBC.
"He was definitely a leader," Abdur-Rashid said. "I think his struggle was how to find a way out of his past. Other young people responded to his natural leadership. But that's what he had been doing over the past couple of years. He made pilgrimage, he was reading, he was writing, he was talking to groups of young people. He was really right at the beginning I think of forging a very positive path of his own."
