Detectives are looking into whether the shooter who gunned down a 25-year-old in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday was waiting for the victim to get off work before ambushing her from behind, a senior police official with direct knowledge tells News 4.
The victim, identified as Imani Armstrong, was shot by a gunman in black who may have been wearing a mask, police said. The 25-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene following reports of gunfire as she was walking along East 14th Street and Irving Place, near Union Square, around 5 a.m.
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.
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.
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