Suicide Mom to Kids: You're All Dying With Me

'I've made a mistake,' she says seconds before drowning
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2011 5:11 AM CDT
Suicide Mom to Kids: You're All Dying With Me
Angela Gilliam grieves after placing some balloons and stuffed animals near the boat ramp where her niece Lashanda Armstrong drove her car into the Hudson River.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

"If I'm going to die, you're all going to die with me," a distraught mom told her four children before plunging her minivan into the Hudson River. But seconds before Lashanda Armstrong drowned with her three youngest kids, she told 10-year-old son Lashaun: "I've made a mistake." With that, she released the boy's pants leg and he managed to wriggle from a window and swim to shore. Those heartbreaking last seconds of his family were recounted to cops by the sole survivor, reveals the New York Daily News. A passing good Samaritan quickly picked up soaking-wet Lashaun, who was frantically waving his arms from the New York riverfront after the deaths Tuesday.

"My mommy just drove the car into the water," Lashaun explained. He later told police that his mom warned her kids: "I'm sorry, I'm going to do something crazy." The tragedy followed a fight between Armstrong and her live-in boyfriend, father to three of the children. Landon, 5, Lance, 2, and 11-month-old Lainaina died with their mom. Relatives were reeling. "We're doing the best we can," said Armstrong's aunt, who's now caring for Lashaun. (More Lashanda Armstrong stories.)

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