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  • 12
    Dec
    2012
    9:00pm, EST

    Police find getaway car in fatal midtown Manhattan shooting

    By Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

    Police 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.


    Follow @NBCNewsUS

    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.

    12 comments

    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...

    Show more
    Explore related topics: nbcnewyork, midtown-manhattan, brandon-lincoln-woodard, midtown-shooting
  • 11
    Dec
    2012
    7:58am, EST

    Police release surveillance video of suspect in fatal Manhattan shooting

    View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

     

    By Jonathan Dienst, Shimon Prokupecz and Brynn Gingras, NBCNewYork.com

    Police have released surveillance video of the suspect wanted in the execution-style slaying of a man near Columbus Circle in New York City at the height of the holiday shopping season Monday afternoon.


    Follow @NBCNewsUS

    Police said Tuesday they were still searching for the gunman who walked up behind Brandon Woodard as he walked through busy midtown Manhattan and shot him in the back of the head outside a Catholic school just before 2 p.m.

    Authorities have said they believe the shooting was planned in advance. The surveillance video shows the suspect 10 minutes before the shooting. He was seen getting out of a late model Lincoln sedan, shooting Woodard from behind and then getting back into the vehicle. The car, driven by someone else, sped away, police said.

    Police also released a still photograph of the suspect walking up behind Woodard moments before he pulled the trigger.

    Woodard, 31, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Shell casings for the silver semi-automatic weapon were found at the scene.

    People on the street who heard the gunshot and saw the man fall ran to the firehouse on the block to get help.

    "We all flinched because it was so close," said Benny Harris.

    A native of Los Angeles, Woodard was most recently living in Chicago, according to public records. He lived in Yucca Valley and Playa Vista in California before that. It's not clear why he was in New York City. Police said Woodard had prior arrests in Los Angeles but had no other details.

    Woodard's father told the Daily News he has a young daughter and was enrolled in law school.

    View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

    236 comments

    If he was enrolled in law school, it seems strange he would be involved in a gang. There might be something going on with the mother of the child. One would think, if he was trying to put his life in order and do right by his daughter, another issue was going on. How really sad, that his little girl …

    Show more
    Explore related topics: nbcnewyork, midtown-manhattan, brandon-lincoln-woodard, midtown-shooting

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