Malcolm X's Troubled Grandson Dead at 28

Malcolm X's grandson is dead in Mexico, according to reports. Malcolm Shabazz is rumored to have been killed, according to the New York Amsterdam News, but details are uncertain. A family friend tells the New York Times US authorities confirmed the 28-year-old's death. Shabazz was a troubled figure from childhood, the Times notes; he pleaded guilty at age 12 to having set a fire that resulted in his grandmother's death, though he later told the Amsterdam News he was innocent.

He spent four years in jail; following his release, he was jailed again for attempted robbery. A witness at the arson trial called him "a schizophrenic boy of a paranoid type." In 2003, he told the Times he was in a gang—though he also spent time encouraging teens to stay away from gangs and drugs. (More Malcolm X stories.)