The terrifying and senseless murder of a young mother at the hands of a Brooklyn man she briefly dated resulted in a prison term of 25 years to life in prison at the killer’s Manhattan sentencing Friday.
State Supreme Court Justice April Newbauer handed down the term to Clarkson Wilson, 47, after his conviction for murdering 25-year-old Imani Armstrong on Sept. 1, 2022.
Wilson, who had previously been convicted for incidents of domestic violence unrelated to Armstrong, had dated the young mom of two for about six months before she tried to cut contact, jurors heard at his December trial, when Wilson was found guilty of second-degree murder and weapons offenses.
The Brownsville man lay in wait for some seven hours for Armstrong to finish her shift at the IHOP a few blocks away from Union Square, fatally shooting her at point-blank range in the back of the head near the corner of 14th St. and Irving Place.
In a brief statement to the court, Wilson said he was sorry and had never meant to hurt Armstrong. The Virginia woman’s relatives said he had left them devastated and cut down a sweet young woman in her prime.
Her stepfather, Desmond Peters, said Armstrong was a beloved mother, sister and daughter whose innate joyfulness lifted up those around her.
“Imani was a light — one that drew people to her and will never be extinguished,” Desmond said. “She had goals that will never come to fruition, dreams and expectations that she will not get to live up to, and children that she will never get to see grow. She is deeply loved and will always be missed.”
Armstrong’s mother, DeAnn Peters, recalled her daughter singing her heart out with her headphones blasting, even when she didn’t know the words.
“Imani has always tried to be the beacon of positivity in our family, even if she had her own stuff going on,” DeAnn said. “She was always willing to lend a helping hand when she could. Her kind spirit will forever be missed by all who got to know her.”
Wilson, who fled the scene and was arrested after authorities tracked him down through surveillance footage, denied that he had been stalking her or killed her. He claimed to cops that he had met Armstrong at a homeless shelter in Brownsville the year before, and that he’d helped out with her kids.
“I never understood what people meant by ‘wishing heaven had a phone’ until the day he took my sister for no reason,” Armstrong’s brother Christian said in a statement read in court Friday. Calling out Wilson for the futility of his actions, he said, “I don’t think you truly know why you did what you did. There isn’t a single reason to do what you did.”
Her younger brother, Daeshun “DJ” Peters, said, “I keep thinking about her singing when I was little, waking up to her voice, how bright she was no matter what she was going through. She always made time to talk to me. I wish I’d had more time with her.”
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, “Imani Armstrong was leaving her job one morning, not knowing that her life would be cut short by an ex-partner with a gun. Clarkson Wilson is facing significant prison time for his calculated, callous and deadly conduct.”
