Shanquella Robinson’s Death Has Black Twitter Talking About Toxic Friendships [UPDATED]

Updated on 12/5/22 at 11:58 a.m: Daniel de la Rosa Anaya—the attorney general for Mexico’s Baja California Sur where Shanquella Robinson died—confirmed to media outlets that Robinson’s death will be investigated as a femicide. Femicide is a kind of gender-based violence that is recognized as a hate crime globally. From 2015 to 2019, femicide cases in Mexico increased 145 percent. Currently, the United States does not track femicide.

Prosecutors in Mexico have filed charges against a suspect—whose name they have not publicly revealed—on charges related to the death of Shanquella Robinson. Robinson, who was just 25 years old, died on Oct. 29 while vacationing with six of her friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Everyone on the trip was American.

The arrest warrant also comes on the heels of a viral video of a woman, who is believed to be Robinson, being beaten by another woman traveling in the group. During the altercation, one of the people filming it asked Robinson if she could “at least fight back?” Robinson’s friends first told her mother that she had died of alcohol poisoning.

However, an autopsy revealed that Robinson’s cause of death as severe spinal cord injury as well as a dislocated neck. Mexican prosecutors called her death as “a direct attack, not an accident.” A month after Robinson’s passing, the FBI has decided to get involved.

While we don’t know if she was killed or it was an accident, but police seem to believe there was wrong doing. Black Twitter, which has been instrumental in getting Robinson justice, has sounded off on the heartbreaking situation, with most discussing how deadly having fake friends can be. One user wrote:

“Anyone of us could have been Shanquella Robinson the core of the matter is people she called her friends orchestrated her death. There are enemies who disguise themselves as friends as loved ones this sent a message to us all.”

Another noted: “The Shanquella Robinson story is proof positive of why you cannot be friends with someone who thinks you “have it all” while they don’t. Their “admiration” turns into envy and then hate and eventually sabotage.”

Though Mexican authorities have not shared the name of the suspect, they did verify that it is one of her friends. In addition, the FBI is now involved in the investigating into Robinson’s death. Mexican prosecutor Antonio López Rodríguez shared that the case was being regarded as a possible homicide.

He also stated that an arrest warrant had been issued for the suspect. The group of friends that Robinson was traveling with wound up leaving Mexico after she was found dead in their rented villa.

Upon hearing the news of an arrest warrant being issued, Robinson’s mother, Salamondra Robinson, told ABC News: “I feel so good, that’s a good feeling. That’s what we have been waiting for, for someone to finally be held accountable and arrested. I just can’t wait for justice to be served.”

A spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer in a statement: “The FBI Charlotte Field Office has opened an investigation in the death of Charlotte resident, Shanquella Robinson in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on or about October 29, 2022. Due to the ongoing investigation, we have no further comment.”