Malcom Shabazz Dead: Malcolm X Grandson Killed in Mexico

The troubled grandson of Malcolm X, Malcolm Shabazz was murdered in Mexico Thursday in the aftermath of a botched robbery. Shabazz was reportedly in Mexico to meet with the deported leader of RUMEC, a labor and construction group in California, though details are still unverified at this stage. 

Family friend Terrie Williams confirmed the death of 28-year-old Shabazz via Facebook and Twitter. It was reported first by New York's The Amsterdam News and Talking Points Memo confirmed it with RUMEC's Juan Ruiz.

“He was murdered. He was in Mexico City and I believe they attempted to rob him and he didnt allow it, so they beat him to death and he died on his way to the hospital,” said Ruiz. “This is all I can confirm, everything else is under investigation for the meantime.”

RUMEC, which stands for Revolutionary United Mexicans in Combat, is an empowerment campaign to build “an economic base to foment a political movement.” Their Facebook page reveals their mission is to organize individual construction workers in San Jose, Mexico.

“I’ve been a target my entire life. My family is targeted,” Shabazz has said.

Shabazz has had a difficult life: incarcerated at 12 for second-degree manslaughter for setting his grandmother's house on fire and consequently reported paranoid schizophrenia. He has been kept away from his mother Qubilah who was charged with an attempted murder of Louis Farrakhan. 

He had been traveling the world to share insights on his troubled past, his famous grandfather's ideology, and the major issues facing the millenial generation. On his blog he has reported FBI harrassment for the time he spent in Syria.

He had been attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and was in the middle of writing two books. 

Shabazz is survived by two daughters, his mother, and his aunts.