Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who was convicted of killing a state trooper before fleeing to Cuba, died Friday, according to a press release.
In 1977, the then-29-year-old Chesimard was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster and was sentenced to life in prison, according to The New York Times. In a new release, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Chesimard’s death, citing “health conditions and advanced age.”
“On September 25, 2025, American citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, ‘Assata Shakur,’ passed away in Havana, Cuba, due to health conditions and advanced age,” the statement read.
According to The New York Times, Chesimard was involved in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike on May 2, 1973. Trooper James Harper had stopped a white Pontiac with Vermont plates and a defective taillight, later calling Trooper Werner Foerster for backup before Foerster was fatally shot. Chesimard was a passenger in the car along with driver Clark Squire and James Costan, Chesimard’s former brother-in-law, the Times reported.
The FBI said Chesimard was already wanted “for her involvement in several felonies, including bank robbery.” During her 1973 trial, Chesimard said she was “ashamed” to have “even taken part” in the proceedings, denouncing the jury as “racist.”
By 1979, Chesimard escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey after two men were allegedly smuggled into the prison to subdue guards and break her out, according to CBS News. She was later smuggled to Mexico and, by 1984, fled to Cuba, where the Castro government granted her political asylum, the outlet reported.
In 2013, the FBI added Chesimard to its most wanted list, releasing a flyer with multiple photos of her and offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading directly to her capture.
While being largely shielded from extradition, Chesimard published an autobiography in 1987 and was known to have been teaching at Cuban universities, according to CBS News.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Flickr/Photo by Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals)
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