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Who killed Malcolm X?

60 Minutes takes a look back at the death of Malcolm X and a rare interview that led to an admission connected to his murder
Who killed Malcolm X? 13:06
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Malcolm X, 1964 AP

Fifty years ago, Malcolm X's eldest daughter, Attallah Shabazz, witnessed gunmen kill her father in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Shabazz, in attendance with her siblings and mother, was 6 years old.

"I'm a child with a forever memory of the most significant man in my life standing at a podium and falling backwards," Shabazz said. "That's forever."

Revisiting the memory of her father's death wasn't easy, but in May 2000 Shabazz agreed to sit down with Mike Wallace and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to discuss Malcolm's murder. The most difficult part for Shabazz was being face to face with Farrakhan, who had long been suspected of instigating the killing.

In the interview, 35 years after Malcolm's death, Farrakhan admitted, for the first time, that his rhetoric may have incited a reaction within the Nation of Islam community. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of the assassination which occurred on Feb. 21, 1965.

"As I may have been complicit in words that I spoke leading up to February 21st," Farrakhan said. "I acknowledge that and regret that any word that I have said caused the loss of life of a human being."

Shortly after Wallace's interview aired, Farrakhan made the following statement:

"I believe there is still an effort to discredit Louis Farrakhan," he said, appearing on Fox News Sunday. "It is known that I have nothing to do with the assassination of brother Malcolm."

Watch Mike Wallace's full report in the player above.

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