NEW YORK — Malikah Shabazz, whose father was the late civil rights leader Malcolm X, was found dead Monday in her New York City home, according to multiple reports.
Police officials told WNBC that Shabazz, 56, was found about 4:30 p.m. inside her home in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. Her daughter found her and called emergency services, The Washington Post reported.
Authorities believe she died of natural causes, according to CNN.
“Working with other authorities, the medical examiner and speaking to the family, (we learned that) she had been ill for a period of time, and at this point, nothing appears suspicious,” Police Commissioner Dermot told WPIX-TV on Tuesday morning. He did not elaborate on Shabazz’s illness.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Bernice King, reacted to the news in a tweet early Tuesday.
“I’m deeply saddened by the death of #MalikahShabazz,” King wrote. “My heart goes out to her family, the descendants of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X.”
She continued: “Dr. Shabazz was pregnant with Malikah and her twin sister, Malaak, when Brother Malcolm was assassinated. Be at peace, Malikah.”
Shabazz died two days after a judge exonerated Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam, two of the three men who were convicted of assassinating Shabazz’s father in 1965, The Associated Press reported. Prosecutors said a new investigation determined that neither Aziz nor Islam had received a fair trial, according to The New York Times.