A Charleston, S.C., Black Lives Matter leader—who made headlines last year after being seen jumping over yellow police tape in an attempt to snatch a Confederate flag—has died after being shot in New Orleans.
Muhiyidin d’Baha, whose legal name was Muhiyidin Moye, died Tuesday morning, the New Orleans Police Department confirmed, according to Live5News.
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Police say that the 32-year-old activist sustained a gunshot wound to the thigh and was rushed to a hospital where he later died of his wounds.
“The incident is the subject of an active and ongoing investigation,” officials said.
Camille Weaver, a niece, said that police said that d’Baha was shot in the leg while riding his bike through the city around 1 a.m. Weaver said that he tried to ride five more blocks after the shooting.
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A vigil celebrating the activist was held at North Charleston City Hall, where family and friends spoke out about the sudden loss.
“We are lost right now,” d’Baha’s sister Kimberli Duncan said. “But we are going to find our way.
“This was his passion; he did it from the heart. He was loving, he was funny, he was smart, but it bothered him, the injustice just bothered him, and it never rested well with him,” Duncan added, speaking of her brother’s activism. “He took it on as a personal battle.”
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The family of Walter Scott, the unarmed black man who was shot in the back while running away from now-former South Carolina Police Officer Michael Slager, remembered d’Baha as someone who was continually fighting for justice on their behalf.
Slager was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“I thank God for placing him here to be the soldier that he is, that he was,” Anthony Scott, Walter Scott’s brother, told Live5News.
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Live5News reports that New Orleans police have yet to identify a suspect.
D’Baha caught national attention back in February 2017 after he jumped past police yellow tape and attempted to drag a Confederate flag away from members of the South Carolina Secessionist Party in an incident that was caught on a live broadcast and quickly circulated across social media.
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The morons waving the losing flag were protesting a speech given by Bree Newsome, who of course is known for climbing up a flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse and removing the Confederate flag from its place on the grounds mere days after white supremacist murderer Dylann Roof killed nine black worshippers in 2015.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help d’Baha’s family with funeral expenses. In 17 hours, more than 459 people have contributed, more than doubling the $7,500 goal.