CHICAGO – Two mystery gunmen burst into a home early yesterday and beat and shot the 42-year-old son of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, police said.
Joshua Farrakhan was in fair condition last night at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in suburban Oak Lawn.
A 35-year-old woman who was with Farrakhan at a friend’s residence when the violence erupted at 1:19 a.m., and who was also beaten, did not require hospital treatment.
She wasn’t identified.
“We have no idea what motive prompted the attack,” said Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department. “There’s no indication of drugs.”
The elder Farrakhan, who has been suffering from prostate cancer, had no comment about the shooting, and had not been seen visiting his son as of early last night.
Camden said Farrakhan and the woman were visiting the home of another acquaintance on the South Side when two men burst in, “battered him, battered his friend, and then shot him twice, once in each leg.”
Nation of Islam official Leonard Muhammad said he knew few details of the attack, and that the organization would conduct its own investigation of the shooting. He told The Post it hadn’t been determined whether the organization would cooperate with police.
In 1988, Farrakhan – who has nine children – revealed that his son, then 29, was in a Muslim-inspired program for alcohol and cocaine abuse.