Today marks 40 days since nine-year-old JLayna Armstrong was murdered, and while the pain of her loss still hangs heavily over her family, they are determined to ensure her memory lives on through love, service and hope.
Now, through a Foundation launched in her honour, JLayna’s loved ones are hoping the country remembers her not for the tragedy that took her life but for the joy, kindness and dreams she carried during her short life.
Her mother Shahna Clement-Muhammad said, “When it is that time come, the impact that we are going to make here, when it is you search Jlayna Armstrong, you’re not going to see the Lady Young. You’re not going to see tragedy. You’re going to see what she did in her nine years.”
Pink balloons, smiling photographs, and cherished videos now serve as painful reminders of a child whose personality filled every room she entered.
In an interview with TTT News, Mrs. Clement-Muhammad said JLayna loved life deeply and knew exactly what she wanted for her future.
“She wanted to be Miss World, Miss Trinidad and Tobago. She wanted to model for Tribe. She wanted to be a nun at a point. She just knows what she wanted. She wanted a mix of everything.”
But beyond the costumes, competitions and dreams of stardom, her mother said JLayna’s greatest gift was her heart. She was a child who gave freely, cared deeply, and found happiness in helping others.
“It had a point in time, I sent my daughter school every day. I say, My daughter loves grapes. I buy these grapes every day. You know, a day we home and I say you want some grapes? Hear she nah: I don’t really like grapes. I say, So what you does be doing with the grapes? She say oh no my friend in school, she really likes grapes. So, she was a giving person. At nine years old, she was very selfless.”
Now, in the aftermath of her death, that same spirit of kindness is becoming the foundation of a movement created in her name.
JLayna’s godmother, Brittnie Streeks, says the JLayna Armstrong Foundation is about helping struggling families, supporting children and ensuring no other parent has to endure the pain they now carry every day.
“And it’s not only about giving back food stuff. Like, for instance, yesterday somebody posted these people who have they live in like a “shack” and Shahna sent it to me and the first thought was, okay, so we could use some of the money from the Foundation, we could probably buy some ply and, you know, help towards that. I don’t mind posting a receipt every day of everything that we buy. So the Foundation really means to give back.”
On Saturday, a 40-day prayer service will be held in remembrance of JLayna.
Shahna expressed that she wants attendees to leave not just having shown up, but with a true sense of purpose.
“If every time a mother comes to the event, they could look at me and they could see the most important part of me was snatched away, and they still have the opportunity each and every day to go home and be a better mother and spend more time with your child and just include your child. If they could just come there every day and see that and instil better values in the children so that we could, the generation that’s upcoming, don’t have to be like the one that passed, that would be great.”
JLayna’s family is extending heartfelt gratitude to the public for the love and support they’ve received thus far.
JLayna Armstrong was among four people killed in a deadly shooting which occurred along the Lady Young Road in Morvant in April 2026.
Mrs. Clement-Muhammad said, “But if it is the person that take my daughter’s life, or the people that take my daughter’s life, happen to bounce up this video, whoever they may be, I just want to say I forgive you because you can’t live with certain things on your chest, and I don’t want to be back at a place every day thinking evil thoughts and then coming here to say I want a better future. So yes, I forgive you. And if you think that it’s too late to turn and find God and to have a better future, it’s not too late, God is a forgiving God.”