Assata Shakur, a radical black militant fugitive who murdered a New Jersey state trooper, died of natural causes in Cuba at age 78.

A statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Shakur died in Havana due to “health problems and advanced age.” She had become an icon of left-wing individuals for her actions as a member of the communist separatist Black Liberation Army, which engaged in the assassinations of low-level police officers, bank robberies, bombings, and other crimes.