New York officials have announced today (Tues., Apr. 27), that Malcolm X’s assassin has been freed from prison 45 years after gunning down the former Nation of Islam leader. Thomas Hagan, 69, had been in a work-release program he started 1988. After 16 rejections, his parole was approved last month.
In 1965 Hagan was known as Talmadge Hayer, a 22-year-old militant member of the Nation of Islam, which Malcolm X had left the year before after disagreements with its founder, Elijah Muhammad.
As Malcolm X spoke to a crowd of 400 in the Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, Hager rushed the stage and fired a sawed-off shotgun, hitting him in the chest. Two other men then fired handguns at Malcolm X, hitting him 16 times. Hagen was shot and beaten by members of the crowd as he tried to flee.
Hagen, now known as Mujahid Halim, admitted the killing in court and was convicted with the other two men, who were released from prison in the mid-1980s.
Information from USA Today contributed to this report.
