Assata Shakur, the godmother of rapper Tupac Shakur and a former member of the Black Liberation Army, has died in Havana at age 78, Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. The ministry cited health conditions and advanced age as factors in the death.
Shakur's daughter, Kakuya Shakur, confirmed the death in a Facebook post, writing that her mother "took her last earthly breath" at approximately 1:15 PM on September 25. "Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I am feeling at this time. I want to thank you for your loving prayers that continue to anchor me in the strength that I need in this moment. My spirit is overflowing in unison with all of you who are grieving with me at this time. Sending much love and appreciation to you all, Kakuya Shakur," she wrote.
A member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, Shakur and two others were involved in a gunfight with New Jersey State Police troopers following a highway traffic stop on May 2, 1973. Trooper Werner Foerster was killed and another officer wounded, while one of Shakur's companions was also killed.
Shakur, who was at the time wanted on several felonies, including bank robbery, fled but was eventually apprehended. She was found guilty of murder, armed robbery and other crimes in 1977 and was sentenced to life in prison, only to escape in November 1979. Members of the Black Liberation Army, posing as visitors, stormed Clinton Correctional Facility for Women, took two guards hostage and commandeered a prison van to break Shakur out. She disappeared before eventually emerging in 1984 in Cuba, where Fidel Castro granted her asylum, according to the FBI.
In 2013, she became the first woman to be added to the FBI's Most Wanted List under the name Joanne Chesimard. A companion who was also convicted in Foerster's killing, Sundiata Acoli, was granted parole in 2022. His attorneys had argued the then-octogenarian had been a model prisoner for nearly three decades and counseled other inmates.
Shakur, who was born Joanne Deborah Chesimard, passed away Thursday in the capital city of Havana due to "health conditions and advanced age," Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. In 2013, she became the first woman to be added to the FBI's Most Wanted List under the name Joanne Chesimard. The case has long been a thorny issue in the fraught relations between the United States and Cuba, with American authorities pressing for her return for decades, including during the Trump administration.
Shakur maintained in writings from Cuba over the years that she did not shoot anyone and had her hands in the air when she was wounded during the gunfire. Her death closes a controversial chapter tied to the Black liberation movement, U.S. law enforcement, and the complex, often debated cultural legacy that surrounds Tupac Shakur.