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Subscribe to RSSPolice in New York have found the getaway car used by the gunman who shot and killed a man along a busy street at midday in midtown Manhattan this week, and are interviewing a man who may have information about the case, NBCNewYork.com has learned.
AP via New York Police Department
This still image made from a video provided by the New York City Police Department shows the gunman, left, behind Brandon Woodard pulling the weapon from his jacket pocket a moment before Monday's shooting in New York.
Sources told NBCNewYork.com investigators have identified the car as a rental from Avis in Huntington Station on Long Island, and have spoken to the car renters, a couple from Queens. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Wednesday that the car had been found in Queens.
The person being interviewed is not believed to be the shooter but may have details about what happened, a law enforcement official told NBCNewYork.com. The 40-year-old man is from Queens and may be a friend of the getaway driver.
Investigators also say they may have a photo of the getaway driver that was snapped as the car went through the toll booth at the Queens-Midtown Tunnel shortly after the shooting on 58th Street Monday.
It was not immediately clear if the man and woman who rented the car were believed to have any connection to the shooting of Brandon Woodard, who was gunned down just before 2 p.m. local time as he walked west on 58th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue in New York.
Surveillance video shows the suspect getting out of a late model Lincoln sedan about 10 minutes before the shooting. He waits while Woodard passes him, then falls in step behind. As the suspect approaches, the victim, still walking, looks back briefly at the suspect, who by then is directly behind him, and turns forward again. Woodard does not appear to recognize the shooter.
The suspect then pulls a gun from his pocket and fires one shot into Woodard's head.
The video shows Woodard falling to the ground as the suspect calmly walks to the getaway car, which was driven by another man and parked on the street. The driver waited for traffic to clear before speeding away.
Also on NBCNewYork.com: Police release surveillance video of suspect in fatal shooting
Woodard, 31, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Shell casings for the silver, semi-automatic weapon were found at the scene. A law enforcement official says the bullet recovered at the scene matches bullets recovered at a 2009 Queens shooting, when 12 rounds were fired into a Mangin Avenue home in St. Albans, damaging windows and doors. No one was hurt, but police recovered ballistics evidence and are looking into the case for possible new leads.
Authorities have said they believe Woodard's shooting was planned in advance, and police are investigating possible motives.
Woodard, who arrived in New York on a one-way plane ticket Sunday evening, had checked out of the Thompson Hotel moments before the shooting, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a news conference Tuesday.
See the police surveillance video of a suspect, from NBCNewYork.com:
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.
Jonathan Dienst is WNBC’s chief investigative correspondent. Shimon Prokupecz is a WNBC investigative producer.
Leave a Comment:
hand gun
Ban handguns.
An unusual case. I hope the cops can find out what the victim was up to, taking this one-way trip to the City and getting lit up the day after he arrives. His career hardly suggests a benevolent individual with equally benevolent motives.
Gee davey; do you think that the hand gun followed the guy and shot him in the back of the head?
Hit ?
Sure does sound and look like a paid hit. Be shocked if the shooter is still in NY. Would be interesting to know where the one way ticket was from. Have to think drugs.
warren- that is exactly what is was thinking. Gun hire for hit. The victim didn't recogonize the shooter and shell casings are match from another shooting from 2009. The police need to check the history of the victim to see if he was in trouble with someone, and after find shooter find out if he is a hitman. Too many things in article line up that way.
He had been in Chicago, if I remember correctly, having moved there from California. According to his father, he was attending law school while also raising his little girl.
As far as buying a one way ticket, you can get discounted tickets on line, depending on what airline and when you book.Some airlines don't want to fly a plane with any empty seats, so you can get cheap seats at the last minute, or on red eye flights, on slower days. Airlines don't advertise these unless you are in the the airport. Or he could have had someone he was going to meet who had another ticket for him or was going to pay for his ticket if his funds were low. Trying to work and go to school doesn't leave much extra cash.
What is really interesting, is the gun was used before in the commission of another crime. I wonder if he was trying to investigate something on his own. Maybe looking into a case he shouldn't have.Either way, it is such a sad thing to have left a little girl fatherless. I hope the cops catch the thug who killed him and he pays the for his cold blooded killing. Chances are this probably isn't his first.
I was wondering is someone was watching him at the hotel. How did the gunman know what direction the victim would walk? He may of been set up and told to meet someone at a specific location and them ambushed. The only reason is if you ever been in Manhattan traffic, it can take you 10 minutes to forever to circle a block depending on traffic and you can easily lose your target. I head on KFI that the victim had been arrested 20 times. He was a club promoter. I suspect debt or drugs. Just my 2 cents. Hope NYPD catches the scumbags. Sounds like they have some solid leads.
Anyone that thinks this is an answer to a problem with someone, is an idiot. This is a federal problem that never goes away. And your image was caught on video, and the gun traced to past crimes. The cops are closing in already. Stupid people and guns dont mix...
Sounds like a good story line for "Law & Order"... too bad no longer on the air.