An early morning fire left the widow of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X clinging to life Sunday with third-degree burns over 80 percent of her body, and a young relative was arrested.
Betty Shabazz, 63, was hospitalized in "extremely critical" condition, said Dr. Bruce Greenstein of Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx."It does not look good for her," said police Detective Sgt. William Rinaldi.
New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir said "there was an acclerant" used in the fire in a back hallway of Shabazz's apartment. Safir said the apartment door had been forced open.
The boy was in custody, charged with juvenile delinquency, police Detective Edward Oakley said. He would not identify the suspect.
Shabazz was conscious and talking when firefighters arrived at about 1:40 a.m., said fire Battalion Chief Anthony Troia.
"She didn't have clothes on . . . although one of the neighbors had wrapped a sheet around her," he said.
Shabazz told firefighters her young grandson was in the three-bedroom apartment. Police could not immediately find him but later said a male relative was located. Oakley declined to say whether the youth arrested was the same male relative.
Rinaldi said Shabazz's apartment was not destroyed by the fire, "just the areas surrounding her."
Two of Shabazz's daughters, Qubilah and Illayasah, were joined at the hospital Sunday by Nation of Islam minister Kevin Mohammad, who said Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was "deeply concerned."
For 30 years, there was a rift between Shabazz and Farrakhan, whom Shabazz said she believed had played a role in her husband's death.
Malcolm X was assassinated Feb. 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Just a week before, the couple's New York City home was destroyed by a firebomb.
Farrakhan and Shabazz publicly reconciled in 1995, shortly after Qubilah Shabazz resolved federal charges that she had plotted to kill Farrakhan, apparently in revenge for her father's death.
In Chicago, Nation of Islam spokesman James Muhammad said, "At this point, our prayers are with Dr. Shabazz, and we pray that Allah will bring her through this incident so that she may continue to fight in the cause of the liberation of her people."
The fire did a relatively small amount of damage to the apartment, Troia said.
"That's why it's suspicious. Because we have no idea how it could have done so much damage to her," he said.
Neighbors assisted Shabazz before firefighters arrived, said Beth Fisher, president of the apartment building's co-op board.