Famous rapper Tupac Shakur’s aunt has become the first woman to land on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists.
Cop
killer Joanne Chesimard, 65 – who was also reportedly Tupac’s godmother
was convicted in 1977 of murdering a police officer, Trooper Werner
Foerster, in New Jersey, US.
She was jailed but pulled off an escaped in a dramatic break-out and later fled to Cuba.
The FBI have now doubled the reward for her capture, placing a $2million (£1.3m) bounty on her head.
Special
agent Aaron Ford said: “Today, on the anniversary of Trooper Werner
Foerster’s death, we want the public to know that we will not rest until
this fugitive is brought to justice”.
Tupac
Shakur was one of the most successful rappers in the 1990s, whose
career was cut short when he died at the age of 25 in a Las Vegas
shooting.
n
May 2, 1973, cops stopped former Black Liberation Army member Chesimard
and two others at the New Jersey turnpike, for a driving violation
before a gunfight broke out between the two parties
Both police officer Werner Foerster and one of Chesimard’s passengers were killed in the exchange of gun fire.
2pac’s
aunt Chesimard was later arrested soon convicted four years later of
first-degree murder, assault and battery of a police officer, assault
with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to kill, illegal possession
of a weapon and armed robbery.
She was handed life behind bars and began her sentence at a maximum security prison in West Virginia.
But
after being transferred to a New Jersey minimum security prison, she
escaped in 1979 with the help of three people visiting her, holding
security guards at gunpoint and forcing them to open the prison gates.
Chesimard
presently known as Assata Shakur, whose brother was the stepfather of
Tupac – hid in a safe house in New Jersey for years before being granted
political asylum in Cuba in 1984.
During
Chesimard’s trial and imprisonment, she was represented by the late
civil rights attorney William Kunstler who claims she did not receive a
fair trial and was the victim of racism and mistreatment.
Yesterday,
New Jersey State Police superintendent Rick Fuentes said: “To this day,
from her safe haven in Cuba, she been given the pulpit to preach and
profess, and flaunts her freedom in the face of this horrific crime.”
Chesimard is considered a “domestic terrorist” although she is said to pose no new threat.
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