Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X, was killed in Mexico yesterday. The Amsterdam News reports, "Several reports around the circumstances of his death, stilled unconfirmed, have rummored that he died early Thursday morning, May 9, 2013 from injuries sustained after he was thrown off a building or shot as he was being robbed in Tijuana... Family members have confirmed his death and that he was in Mexico but have not confirmed the exact location or circumstances of how Malcolm Shabazz died."

A friend, Terrie Williams, Tweeted, "I'm confirming, per U.S. Embassy, on behalf of family, the tragic death of Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X.Statement frm family 2 come."

When he was 12 years old, Shabazz pleaded guilty to starting a fire outside the bedroom of his grandmother Betty Shabazz. Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's wife, eventually died from her critical injuries (blood drives were held for her) and experts testified that the boy was psychotic and schizophrenic. Former mayor David Dinkins, a friend of Malcolm X, was one of the lawyers who represented young Malcolm Shabazz, and told the NY Times at the time, "You have a situation where a grandmother loves a grandchild and the grandchild loves that grandmother. I don't see a conflict."

The Times reports, "He was jailed and released after four years, but was incarcerated again shortly afterward for attempted robbery. He joined a gang, he said in a 2003 profile in The New York Times, but also worked with Ms. Williams, a publicist and author, speaking with teenagers and warning them to avoid drugs and gang life."

Shabazz's website says, "Malcolm is the first male heir of Malcolm X. However, this young man has developed into his own as he has overcome obstacle after obstacle in his life. Since his release from prison a few years ago he has been traveling throughout the US and around the world speaking to different audiences about the struggles that confront this generation. Malcolm is a humble, passionate and forceful speaker who’s emerging as a voice for our generation as a writer in the process of publishing his first 2 books." A March entry notes how he was prohibited from traveling to Iran for a film festival:

"In the beginning of 2012 I had been informed that I was under investigation by the F.B.I.'s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y... I was picked up by authorities after I filed for a visa to Iran, and 2 days prior to my departure. A detective squad from the City of Middletown Police Department surrounded me in the street about 2 blocks from where I was residing. They asked me my name, and I gave them an alias, but they were already well aware of who I actually was. I didn't tell them my real name because I didn't know what was going on. When I was brought before a Judge of City of Middletown court I was surprised to be informed that I was being charged with Grand Larceny, and False Impersonation charge. Then I was sent to jail, and told to appear again 7 days later. Then following court date the bogus charge of Grand Larceny, which they only put to justify stopping me in first place, was dropped. And they left me to face the False Impersonation. I was offered 90 days for the offense of giving the authorities the wrong name which I declined before bailing out after 2 weeks."

The Amsterdam News, which says that Shabazz denied setting the fire in recent years, reports, "Malcolm Shabazz was in the process of writing two books, at least one of which was a manuscript, and he was attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York."