Shatter has the mutant ability to weaken inorganic materials with a touch, transforming them into crystal. Weaker materials crumble, while stronger materials become weak enough that they can become breakable.
Shatter's mutant abilities manifested when he was a teenager, and he simply woke up with them. He tried to destroy his powers by using them on himself, touching his forehead. The resulting partial transformation is why Shatter's head appears crystalline and partially cracked, although the transformation hasn't affected his brain functions. The transformation also hardened Shatter's skin, making him resistant to small-arms fire.
To buy time for his fellow mutants to escape, Shatter charges a group of Purifiers. Jace shoots him with an armor-piercing bullet, killing him as crystals "bleed" out of his chest.
