On Saturday, December 10th family and friends of Shanquella Robinson—the young woman who died on a trip to Mexico under cryptic circumstances more than a month ago—gathered at Little Rock AME Zion Church in Charlotte, North Carolina for a rally seeking justice.
The purpose of the rally was to demand authorities to arrest those involved in Robinson’s death. On October 29, she passed away in a Mexican vacation villa Robinson had rented along with a group of friends. Although the group claimed that she died of alcohol poisoning, an autopsy later revealed that she suffered a severe spinal cord injury, as well as a broken neck.
A video soon circulated online of a woman, who appeared to be Robinson, being viciously beaten by another woman while those watching encouraged her to “fight back.”
Many believe the video was from the trip on which Robinson died. In a December 7th episode of Nightline, Robinson’s mother, Salamondra, explained that as she planned her daughter’s funeral she was notified of the autopsy results and police report.
Shortly before that, Salmondra Robinson shared that the group who accompanied Shanquella on the trip visited her to express their condolences. “They were crying. They said they never had a fight. They even sat here and said they were picking out what they were wearing to the funeral,” she stated.
Salamondra then confronted one of the friends who went on the trip about the information she learned. She claimed that during the conversation, he started sweating profusely through his shirt. “He was sweating so bad, it’s like it was eating him up,” she explained.
Earlier this month, prosecutors in Mexico filed charges against a suspect—whose name they have not publicly revealed—on charges related to the death of Shanquella Robinson. Though the Robinson family was present at the rally Saturday, they did not speak during the event.
However, county and city officials made passionate pleas for justice for Shanquella. Charlotte Mayor pro tem Braxton Winston said: “I’m going to be honest—this is tough. This is hard. How many words of comfort can you bring to a situation like this?”
He continued: “There’s so much grief in our community.” Braxton then directly addressed the Robinson family. “I assure you this community will not forget you.”