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Assata Shakur Dies in Havana at 78 After Decades in Exile

Her passing caps a fugitive saga that long strained U.S.–Cuba relations.

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FILE — Joanne Chesimard, a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, leaves Middlesex County courthouse, in New Brunswick, N.J., April 25, 1977.(AP Photo, File)
FILE - Photo of reward poster announcing the federal bounty for the capture of convicted killer Joanne Chesimard is now $1 Million in West Trenton, N.J. on Monday, May 2, 2005. (AP Photo/Tim Larsen, file)
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Overview

  • Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said Shakur died on September 25 from health conditions and advanced age, and her daughter wrote she passed at about 1:15 p.m. in Havana.
  • Convicted in 1977 of murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster after a 1973 Turnpike stop, she escaped prison in 1979 and later received asylum in Cuba.
  • Shakur maintained she did not shoot anyone during the 1973 gunfire, and medical testimony at trial indicated her wounds were consistent with her hands being raised.
  • The FBI added her to its Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013 as the first woman on it, with federal and New Jersey authorities offering up to $2 million for information leading to her capture.
  • New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and the State Police superintendent said she died without being held fully accountable, while groups including Black Lives Matter Grassroots posted tributes to her legacy.