NEW YORK, N.Y. — Malikah Shabazz, one of the daughters of Malcolm X, has died.
Law enforcement tells KABC and KNBC that the 56-year-old woman was found unresponsive in her Brooklyn home Monday evening, and she was later pronounced dead.
At this time, authorities believe her death is due to natural causes, CNN and The Associated Press report. Though, a cause of death has not been determined.
Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., reacted to Shabazz’s death on Twitter.
“I’m deeply saddened by the death of #MalikahShabazz. My heart goes out to her family, the descendants of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X,” tweeted King. “Dr. Shabazz was pregnant with Malikah and her twin sister, Malaak, when Brother Malcolm was assassinated. Be at peace, Malikah.”
The death of Shabazz comes a week after two men convicted with killing her father in the 1960s were exonerated. A judge dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam on Thursday.
Malcolm X, a Muslim minister and civil rights leader, was gunned down as he began a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on Feb. 21, 1965.
Shabazz and her twin sister were the youngest of Malcolm X’s six daughters. The twins’ mother was pregnant with them when the activist was assassinated.
Shabazz made headlines in 2017 when she and her daughter were arrested on animal cruelty charges stemming from the discovery of several injured dogs found in a stolen U-Haul, the AP reports.
