Frustrated activists and lawyers from around the country are stopping in Washington on Friday to urge President Joe Biden to intervene in the case surrounding Shanquella Robinson’s death.
The visit comes after community members sent more than 100 letters to U.S. and Mexican officials during a recent rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, asking them to intervene in Robinson’s case, according to The Charlotte Observer.
Robinson, 25, a Charlotte native, died last year on Oct. 28 while on a trip with six other people in Cabo, Mexico. Her death certificate, conflicting accounts from the six individuals and information from Cabo police have led to questions about her death and whether or not someone killed her.
News reports and posts about questionable circumstances began to go viral on social media, prompting the FBI to launch a probe and the Mexican government, in January, to issue an arrest warrant for one of her traveling companions.
Salamondra Robinson said she spoke with her daughter over the phone a day after she arrived in Mexico. Shortly after, she said, she received a “frantic” phone call that the hair braider had alcohol poisoning and no pulse, theGrio previously reported.
However, she said, an autopsy contradicts the purported events.
“When the autopsy came back, they said it didn’t have anything to do with the alcohol,” Robinson recalled, according to theGrio. “[They] said that she had a broken neck and her spine in the back was cracked. She had been beaten.”
The family’s lawyer, Sue-Ann Robinson, and her co-counsel, Benjamin Crump, both of whom have covered many high-profile corruption and police misconduct cases, are among those speaking in D.C. Crump has represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and, currently, that of Tyre Nichols, according to The Observer.
Robinson’s relatives will also be in attendance.
“My prayers continue to be with the family of Shanquella Robinson and all of those who loved her,” North Carolina Rep. Alma Adams’ office said in a statement ahead of the D.C. visit, The Observer reported. “As with all cases involving constituents,” she said, her congressional office is ready to assist where permitted.
The case’s legal and political complexities make it difficult to predict how U.S. authorities will handle a probe and potential extradition of a suspect to Mexico. The U.S. Department of Justice said the procedure is typically drawn out, especially when a suspect is surrendered to or extradited to a foreign country.
“No family deserves to suffer this tragedy,” Adams’ office stated, “and Shanquella deserves justice.”
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