(ThyBlackMan.com) LaShanda Armstrong, a 25-year old mother of four, drove herself and her children into the Hudson River this week. Armstrong was distraught after finding out that her boyfriend Jean Pierre, father of three of her children, was sleeping with another woman. Armstrong and three of her children drown, with the fourth child swimming to shore.
Right before killing her family, Armstrong wrote a Facebook message stating: “I’m sorry everyone forgive me please for what I’m gonna do… This is it!!!”
The river was just seven blocks from Armstrong’s home in Newburgh, New York. Leshaun, the 10-year old boy who escaped from the van, got out of the car by climbing over his mother’s leg. She grabbed at his leg as he was climbing out, and eventually let go. The 
boy told the woman who found him that his mother realized shortly after driving into the river that she’d made a mistake and tried to back out.
‘I made a mistake. I made a terrible mistake’ Ms. Armstrong said, as her car was falling into the river. As he was taken to a nearby fire station, the boy told police that his mother also said, “I’m sorry, I’m about to do something crazy. If I’m going to die, you’re going to die with me.”
The children who died with their mother were five-year old Landon Pierre, two-year old Lance Pierre, and 11-year old Lainaina Pierre. The father was allegedly having an affair with Sharon Ramirez, a 22-year old woman who says that she was no longer sleeping with Ms. Armstrong’s boyfriend when the incident occurred. Most ironic is that she and Ms. Armstrong were actually friends later down the road, although she never admitted that she’d slept with the father of her children.
It’s hard for me to hold back the tears as I read about the tragedy that this young family had to endure. Clearly, their mother had serious psychological problems, for there is no excuse for a mother to kill her own children. As sorry as I feel for Ms. Armstrong, I feel most sorry for the children who died in that freezing river in the hands of the woman they thought would always protect them.
As for the relationship itself and what the rest of us can learn from this, the reality is that there are always going to be disappointments in love and life. People leave us, they cheat on us and they hurt us. But it’s important that we remind ourselves and our children that the sun always rises again, and that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. As much as Ms. Armstrong loved Mr. Pierre, the truth is that life goes on, even when our relationships come to an end. Co-dependence is never healthy or safe for any of us.
May this young woman and her children rest in peace. This is the saddest story I’ve written about this year. Due to the fact that all of her children had the middle name “Pierre,” it is clear that Ms. Armstrong loved her childrens’ father. But there actually is such a thing as loving someone too much, and we must always keep that in mind.
Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.
