Two remanded over killing of Malcolm X grandson

Nightclub waiters face charges of murder and robbery

Police agents keep watch at the entrance of the Palace bar at Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City where Malcolm Shabazz was beaten to death. Photograph: Tomas Bravo/Reuters
Police agents keep watch at the entrance of the Palace bar at Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City where Malcolm Shabazz was beaten to death. Photograph: Tomas Bravo/Reuters

Two men arrested on suspicion of involvement in the fatal beating of the grandson of US civil rights activist Malcolm X have been remanded in custody in Mexico.

David Hernandez and Manuel Perez, waiters at the Palace nightclub near Mexico City's popular Garibaldi Square, face charges of murder and robbery, a court official said.

Malcolm Shabazz, who police have said was 29, died earlier this month at the Palace after a dispute over a $1,200 bill. Hernandez and Perez were arrested on Monday.

Mexico City Attorney General Rodolfo Rios speaks to the media about two men arrested on suspicion of the fatal beating of Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of US civil rights activist Malcolm X. Photograph: Henry Romero/Reuters
Mexico City Attorney General Rodolfo Rios speaks to the media about two men arrested on suspicion of the fatal beating of Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of US civil rights activist Malcolm X. Photograph: Henry Romero/Reuters

Mr Shabazz, who was convicted of manslaughter as a 12-year-old for setting a fire that killed his grandmother and went to prison as an adult for attempted robbery, was in Mexico City to visit Miguel Suarez, an immigration activist who was recently deported from the United States.

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On the night of May 8 Shabazz and Suarez visited the run-down area around Plaza Garibaldi, a popular tourist area where Mariachi music groups play on the streets amid seedy strip clubs, dive bars and bordellos.

Despite its proximity to the city’s grand colonial center, the area is infamous for petty crime.

Malcolm X was a civil rights activist and leader of the black Muslim movement in the United States. He was shot to death before a speaking appearance in New York City in 1965.