Assata Shakur
| Assata Shakur | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
JoAnne Deborah Byron July 16, 1947 Jamaica, Queens, New York City, U.S. |
| Residence | Cuba |
| Nationality | American (1947–present) Cuban (1984–present) |
| Other names | Joanne Chesimard, JoAnne Deborah Byron |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Known for | Convicted of murder and named one of FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists in 2013, being 2Pac's godmother and aunt |
| Criminal charge | murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life sentence |
| Criminal status | Escaped |
| Allegiance |
Black Panther Party (1970) Black Liberation Army (1970s) |
| Conviction(s) | 1977 |
|
Reward amount
|
$2,000,000 |
|
Capture status
|
Fugitive |
|
Wanted by
|
FBI |
| Escaped | November 2, 1979 |
Assata Olugbala Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947), whose married name was Chesimard, is an African-American activist, member of the former Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA), who was convicted of murder in 1977. She escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba in 1984, gaining political asylum.
Between 1971 and 1973, Shakur was charged with several crimes and was the subject of a multi-state manhunt. In May 1973, Shakur was involved in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike, in which New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster was killed and Trooper James Harper was grievously assaulted; she was charged in these attacks. BLA member Zayd Malik Shakur was also killed in the incident, and Shakur was wounded. Between 1973 and 1977, Shakur was indicted in relation to six other incidents—charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping. She was acquitted on three of the charges and three were dismissed. In 1977, she was convicted of the first-degree murder of Foerster and of seven other felonies related to the shootout.
Shakur was incarcerated in several prisons in the 1970s. She escaped from prison in 1979 and, after living as a fugitive for several years, fled to Cuba in 1984, where she received political asylum. She has been living in Cuba ever since. Since May 2, 2005, the FBI has classified her as a domestic terrorist and offered a $1 million reward for assistance in her capture. On May 2, 2013, the FBI added her to the Most Wanted Terrorist List; the first woman to be listed. On the same day, the New Jersey Attorney General offered to match the FBI reward, increasing the total reward for her capture to $2 million.
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