Joanne Chesimard, who killed a New Jersey cop 40 years ago today, then escaped prison and fled to Cuba, has been labeled a terrorist and had a $2 million bounty put on her by the FBI, authorities said Thursday. 
 
 Chesimard was serving a life term for killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 when she escaped prison. After hiding out in a New Jersey safe house for several years, Chesimard managed to flee in 1979 to Cuba, where she has been living for decades under the name Assata Shakur. 
 
 "Joanne Chesimard is a domestic terrorist," Aaron T. Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark division, said at a press conference Thursday. "She absolutely is a threat to America." 
 
 Chesimard, a member of the radical Black Liberation Army, shot and killed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster execution-style on May 2, 1973, after she and two others were pulled over for a routine traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, about an hour south of New York City. 
 
 Chesimard, 26 at the time, was already known by the FBI for her involvement in the Black Panther movement. She had changed her name to Shakur and was now a leader of the Black Liberation Army — one of the most violent militant black organizations of the 1970s. She was wanted in connection with a string of felonies, including bank robberies in New York. 
 
 After being pulled over by the troopers, Chesimard, who was in the passenger seat, pulled out her semi-automatic pistol and fired the first shot. The passenger in the rear seat, James Coston, then fired multiple shots before he was killed by trooper James Harper. As Harper sought cover, Chesimard stepped out of the car and continuously fired at both him and Foerster, who was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Clark Squire, the driver. 
 
 Foerster was shot in the abdomen and right arm. According to police accounts, Chesimard picked up Foerster's gun and put two bullets in his head, execution-style, as he lay along the side of the turnpike. Authorities say her jammed handgun was found next to Foerster's body. 
 
 Chesimard, Coston and Squire fled and abandoned their car 5 miles down the road. It didn't take long for police to locate the car and Coston, who was found dead near the vehicle. A half-hour after the shooting, state police arrested Chesimard. Squire was arrested a mile from the car about 40 hours after the incident. 
 
 Chesimard denied that she shot at anyone and claimed that the militant and cop-killer labels made her a target. But four years later, she was convicted of first-degree murder, assault and battery of a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to kill, illegal possession of a weapon and armed robbery. 
 
 On Nov. 2, 1979, Chesimard escaped from prison in New Jersey. Police believe a group of black and white domestic terrorists approached Chesimard while at a maximum security prison in West Virginia, but waited until she was transferred to a minimum security prison in New Jersey before plotting the escape. 
 
 Three members of the group who were visiting Chesimard ordered a corrections officer at gunpoint to open three gates that eventually led out of the prison. They escaped in a jail van. 
 
 Police say Chesimard was taken to a safe house in East Orange, N.J., where she hid for five years. In 1984 she surfaced in Cuba, where she was granted political asylum. 
 
 On the 40th anniversary of Foerster's killing, the FBI announced that Chesimard has been placed on the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorist List." She is the first female to be placed on the list. 
 
 "She was a leader, activist and a soldier in the movement," Ford said of Chesimard's involvement in the Black Liberation Army, adding that authorities believe she has made connections over the years with other terrorist networks. 
 
 Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, who spoke alongside Ford, said Chesimard continues to live safely in Cuba, where she "flaunts her freedom in the face of this horrific crime." 
 
 "To this day, from her safe haven in Cuba, she been given the pulpit to preach and profess," Fuentes said. "She has been used by the Castro regime to greet foreign delegations visiting Cuba." 
 
 Jeffrey S. Chiesa, New Jersey's Attorney General, announced that the reward for Chesimard's capture has been doubled to $2 million. 
 
 "Justice has no expiration date ... This killer continues to be free," Chiesa said, adding that the FBI remains committed to bringing Chesimard back to the U.S. 
 
 Anyone with information that helps authorities capture Chesimard is urged to notify authorities at 1-800-CALL-FBI. ||||| New designation a reminder that 1970s cop killer Joanne Chesimard remains a threat 
 
 STAFF WRITER 
 
 The Record 
 
 TYSON TRISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER New Jersey State Police Col. Rick Fuentes stands in front of an updated reward billboard during Thursday's press conference at the FBI building in Newark. 
 
 FILE PHOTO Joanne Chesimard is photographed in Cuba. 
 
 She’s been known as a cop killer, a violent black activist and New Jersey’s most notorious fugitive from the law since the 1970s. As of Thursday, Joanne Chesimard is now also officially considered one of the country’s most-wanted terrorists. 
 
 The addition of Chesimard, 65, to a list that has been maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 9/11 put a new spotlight on a case that has rankled every level of law enforcement for decades. 
 
 Chesimard took the alias of Assata Shakur and surfaced in 1984 as an exile in Cuba, where she has continued to profess her innocence and attract sympathy from supporters who question the official account of the 1973 murder of Trooper Werner Foerster, who was shot, execution-style, after he stopped Chesimard and two others for a faulty tail light. Thursday was the 40th anniversary of the murder. 
 
 Law enforcement officials said Thursday they have no evidence that Chesimard, a onetime leader of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, poses any new threat to the United States. Instead, they said, the danger she represents — because of her connections to radical groups abroad and her privileged position in Cuba — has remained constant over the years. 
 
 "To this day, from her safe haven in Cuba, Chesimard has been given the pulpit to preach and profess, stirring supporters and groups to mobilize against the United States by any means necessary," Colonel Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, said at a press conference. 
 
 Chesimard is the 46th fugitive to be added to the list and the first woman, putting her among the ranks of Osama bin Ladin, Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger and members of international groups that include Hezbollah and the Taliban. Bulger was arrested in 2011. 
 
 Aaron T. Ford, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark Division, did not say why the government waited to give Chesimard the designation other than pointing out that she "has been proven to meet all the metrics" for inclusion. 
 
 "She’s a danger to the American government, and she was part of an organization that used threats to try to intimidate, force and coerce government actions," Ford said. 
 
 He added that the FBI also considers whether an investigation would benefit from the exposure generated by the list, which is distributed internationally. 
 
 Ford’s appearance at the podium served as an unspoken reminder of how much the country has changed since the days of the Chesimard case, when some black militant groups pegged police officers as agents of government oppression. Ford, who was recently named head of the Newark bureau, is African American. 
 
 Chesimard was convicted of Foerster’s murder in 1977, four years after the shoot-out on the New Jersey Turnpike. The case was delayed because she became pregnant while in custody. 
 
 Law enforcement officials said Chesimard fired the first shot at Trooper James Harper, wounding him in the shoulder, and then pursued both officers with a fusillade of gunshots until she was also wounded. 
 
 Foerster, already hurt in his right arm and abdomen, was executed with his own service weapon on the roadside. Chesimard’s jammed handgun was found at his side. 
 
 James Coston, who was shooting from the backseat, was mortally wounded during the fight and was found next to the abandoned vehicle. ||||| New Jersey officials hope the thaw in diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba will make it easier to extradite a former Black Panther Party member convicted of killing a state trooper in a controversial 40-year-old case. 
 
 Joanne Chesimard, who changed her name to Assata Shakur, was convicted in the 1973 death of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster. Prosecutors say Shakur killed Foerster in a shootout after she and two Black Panther affiliates were pulled over for allegedly driving with a broken taillight on the New Jersey Turnpike. 
 
 Two years after her conviction, in 1979, Shakur escaped from prison with the assistance of Black Liberation Army members. She resurfaced in Cuba in the 1980s, and Fidel Castro granted her asylum there. 
 
 Despite the conviction, many point to irregularities in Shakur’s case, including evidence that her attorneys’ offices may have been bugged and searched, and potential bias among the jurors. Shakur has maintained her innocence. 
 
 Shakur was rapper Tupac Shakur’s step-aunt and godmother. 
 
 Both federal and state authorities have sought Shakur’s extradition for years, even adding her to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013 and offering $2m in return for information on her. She is the first woman to be added to the list, and only the second domestic terrorist, the FBI has said. 
 
 “We remain ever hopeful in our resolve to bring Joanne Chesimard to justice,” said Paul Loriquet, a spokesperson for the New Jersey attorney general’s office. He said his office is working closely with federal authorities to secure Shakur’s “rightful place in a New Jersey prison”. 
 
 “The FBI will continue to pursue justice, regardless of how long it takes, and are hopeful any changes in relations between the United States and Cuba will assist us with her apprehension and return,” FBI special agent Aaron Ford said in a statement. He declined to give interviews on the subject. 
 
 Lennox S Hinds, Shakur’s attorney and a criminal justice professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, could not be reached for comment. 
 
 The US has no extradition treaty with Cuba. The agreements typically require negotiation by the secretary of state, two-thirds approval from the Senate and ratification by the president. 
 
 The US State Department and the Department of Justice did not immediately return calls seeking comment about whether alternative ways to extradite Shakur might exist as a result of the change in diplomatic status.
– Not all terrorists are foreigners, and not all terrorists are men. The FBI keeps a list of the most-wanted domestic terrorists, defined as "Americans attacking Americans based on US-based extremist ideologies." And five out of the seven people on the list are women, notes Business Insider. A sampling: Donna Joan Borup: During a 1981 anti-apartheid protest In New York City, Borup allegedly tossed an acid-like substance into the eyes of a police officer. She skipped her court trial and has been on the lam ever since. Joanna Deborah Chesimard: A member of the Black Liberation Army, Chesimard shot a state trooper at point-blank rage during a traffic stop in 1973. She was imprisoned in 1977 but escaped two years later. Josephine Sunshine Overaker: The FBI accuses Overaker of attempting to burn down and destroy an energy facility as part of an attack staged by the radical environmental groups Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. Click here for the full list of wanted domestic terrorists, including the males.