Brooklyn man caught on video stalking ex before shooting her dead in Union Square after she left IHOP night shift: Manhattan DA
Surveillance video captured every step of a Brooklyn man who cold-bloodedly shot dead his ex after she left her job at a Union Square restaurant, prosecutors said Thursday.
Clarkson Wilson, 44, of Brownsville, pleaded not guilty to an indictment on murder and weapons possession charges in the slaying of Imani Armstrong near the IHOP restaurant at an arraignment hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court.
After waiting for Armstrong to leave work for five hours, Wilson stalked her several blocks and shot her at point-blank range in the back of the head at 5 a.m. on Sept. 1, prosecutors say.
After the shooting, Armstrong ran into the Union Square subway station and quickly changed his clothes before fleeing south on a train, video showed.
Upon his arrest Sept. 3, Wilson swore to detectives that he didn’t kill Armstrong and that two guns found in a safe in his Brownsville apartment weren’t his.
“I don’t want to talk about the safe in the apartment,” Wilson told detectives at the 13th Precinct on Sept. 3. “That’s not me in the photos. I didn’t shoot her.”
Prosecutors remained tight-lipped when asked about the pair’s relationship and a possible second suspect.
In his statements to police, Wilson said Armstrong was his ex and that at the time of her death she was married to a woman.
He said he met Armstrong at a homeless shelter in 2021 and that he had frequently helped her with money for her kids.
“I sent Imani money on Wednesday over CashApp. I’ve been to IHOP before several times,” Wilson said, according to court records. “She would let me sit inside. We’ve gotten tattoos together.”
When asked for an alibi, Wilson said he had been alone smoking a joint outside his grandmother’s Brooklyn house to “calm my mind” after fighting with his current girlfriend as they minded their daughter. He said he and his girlfriend started arguing when he received a text from his “new baby mother,” whom he didn’t name.
Police previously said Armstrong was with another woman when he stalked and killed Armstrong but did not identify the at-large suspect. The DA’s office declined to comment when asked about the other woman, citing the ongoing investigation.
Wilson has several convictions, including for multiple domestic violence cases. Prosecutors cited his online weed business, including pictures he posted online of stacks of cash, when asking the court to detain him.
Wilson’s lawyer at Legal Aid, Michael Gompers, declined to comment. Attempts to reach Armstrong’s family members in Virginia were unsuccessful.
