Two suspects arrested in death of Malcolm Shabazz in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Two waiters at a downtown Mexico City bar have been arrested and identified by prosecutors here as the “likely killers� of Malcolm Shabazz. The grandson of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, Shabazz was beaten to death last week.

According to a news release issued Monday by the Mexico City attorney general’s office, the waiters, David Hernandez Cruz and Manuel Alejandro Perez de Jesus, worked at a bar called the Palace Club, where Shabazz and a friend had been drinking.

Prosecutors described the Palace Club as “a bar not frequented by tourists,� located near the Plaza Garibaldi, the famous square where visitors and Mexicans alike are serenaded by bands of roving mariachi musicians.

At 3 a.m. Thursday, the statement said, the waiters and two other individuals at the Palace Club demanded that the two visitors pay a $1,200 bar tab.

When they disputed the charge, Shabazz was beaten, and his friend, a labor leader named Miguel Suarez, was threatened and robbed.

Prosecutors said Shabazz, 28, died of trauma caused by the beating he received with a blunt object. The two waiters were jailed on suspicion of murder and aggravated robbery.

Shabazz was the son of Malcolm X’s second daughter, Qubilah. He spent four years at a juvenile detention center after pleading guilty, at age 12, to starting a house fire that killed Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s wife. He had other run-ins with the law, but had been working more recently as a public speaker, blogger and activist.

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