Trooper’s killer is first woman on FBI terrorists list

WASHINGTON – A 65-year-old American woman and member of the Black Liberation Army has been added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List, the first woman to appear on the list.

An organized group of gunmen freed Joanne Chesimard from a New Jersey prison in 1979, where she was serving a life sentence for murder in the shooting death of a state trooper, according to the FBI. Chesimard is now believed to be living in Cuba.

The FBI and the New Jersey State Police Department announced Chesimard’s addition to the list Thursday, 40 years after she and two accomplices wielding semiautomatic handguns exchanged fire with police after being pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Chesimard and Clark Squire were found guilty of murder for shooting Trooper Werner Foerster on the side of the road with his service weapon after he was injured in the initial fire, according to the FBI.

“This crime was always considered an act of domestic terrorism,” said Mike Rinaldi, New Jersey State Police lieutenant.