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A Brooklyn man was arrested for the murder of a mother-of-three and exotic dancer on her way home from a second job at IHOP.
Clarkson Wilson, 44, the father of one of Imani Armstrong’s children, was taken into custody on Saturday after the 25-year-old was fatally shot in the head on a street corner near Union Square early Thursday morning, the New York Post reports.
Police said she had been coming home from work at IHOP in Gramercy Park when a man opened fire, with officials yet to uncover a motive.
Along with murder charges, Wilson – who has more than 20 arrests on his rap sheet- was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Clarkson Wilson, 44 (above), who has more than 20 arrests on his rap sheet, was taken into custody for the fatal shooting of Imani Armstrong, 25
Armstrong (left), an exotic dancer and IHOP employee, was heading back home from work at the restaurant when she was gunned down
The victim was a mother-of-three, with police sources saying that Wilson was the father of one of her children. Pictured: Armstrong (left) in a Christmas photo with two of her kids
Armstrong’s body was seen being loaded into a gurney, wrapped tightly in a black body bag and tightened with straps after the shocking murder near Union Square Park
Sources told the Post that Wilson has at least four complaints against him for alleged domestic violence going back to 2014, but it remains unclear if any of the complaints were made by Armstrong.
One report in April 2021 saw a woman accuse Wilson of choking her during an argument.
Another complaint in September 2014 was filed by Wilson’s ex-wife, sources told the Post, who claimed he choked her and pushed her into the wall after grabbing her phone.
Police said the investigation was ongoing as they question Wilson over the murder of Armstrong.
The murder occurred on Irving Place, startlingly close to some bustling hubs of NYC’s East Village, including NYU’s University Hall dorms and Union Square, which has one of the busiest subway stations in the city
She was reportedly walking home from work at IHOP (pictured) in Gramercy Park in NYC
Detectives stand at the scene and discuss the crime as the situation is still under investigation
Police responding to a 911 call at approximately 5am on Thursday found the victim unconscious with a bullet to her head.
The NYPD Crime Scene Unit quickly erected a tent to shield the body from onlookers near the corner of East 14th Street and Irving Place.
A street vendor named Manny told the Post he was ‘cooking’ when he ‘heard a loud boom.’
‘I said: “Oh s**t, what was that?” I thought it was a car or truck [that] crashed. I ran outside and I saw the lady on the sidewalk,’ he said.
He claimed he did not hear ‘any commotion’ prior to the shooting.
It was the second killing in New York’s 13th precinct in two days, as Jamal Burton, a 38-year-old man from East New York, was stabbed to death near Chelsea.
Burton reportedly got into an argument with his killer which turned into an altercation, leading to the other man stabbing Burton in the chest repeatedly, killing him.
Crime is up 35 percent in the Big Apple as many random attacks continue to terrorize New Yorkers
While shootings and murders have dipped slightly, major crime in NYC has surged 36% over last year.
Rapes increased 10 percent, from 892 to 989, and felonious assaults were up 19.5 percent, from 13,086 to 15,640, statistics from the NYPD show.
‘It’s a shame,’ Manny told the Post. ‘You have these people killing one another. They kill somebody and the system lets them back out. They are right back on the streets and they do the same s**t again.
‘It’s crazy. You got some sick, screwed-up people out here.’