A Brooklyn man allegedly behind Thursday's ambush killing of a 25-year-old near Manhattan's Union Square was arrested Saturday morning on murder charges, police sources said.
Detectives had been investigating whether the shooter who gunned down Imani Armstrong was waiting for the woman to get off work at the IHOP on East 14th Street before shooting her from behind, a senior police official told News 4.
Two days later, investigators nabbed 44-year-old Clarkson Wilson around 7 a.m. on murder and weapons charges. Police believe the motive in the shooting involves a domestic dispute.
NYPD officials said the gunman wore all black and may have been wearing a mask when shots rang out along East 14th Street and Irving Place, near Union Square, around 5 a.m.
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The shots were fired near NYU, but there's no indication at this point that the victim had a connection to the university. Cops said the killer fled the scene, which was teeming with law enforcement by the time the sun came up, Citizen app video shows.
Additional video in possession of police shows the victim leaving IHOP, where she worked, a few minutes before 5 a.m. and walk west down East 14th Street.
The suspected shooter can be seen following the victim from the opposite side of the street before crossing over and running up from behind to fire a single round to the back of her head, the senior police official said. The shooter was seen taking off down Irving Place.
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Police said the shooting was one of two deadly incidents in the neighborhood that morning. Hours later, a man in his 20s was gunned down just a few blocks away on East 12th Street between avenues C and D — right outside PS 34, an elementary and middle school.
A 26-year-old man was shot in the head, and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries.
An investigation is ongoing, but it appears that both shootings were targeted. Police have not said if the shootings were related. Neither of the victims has been identified.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
