Suspect Sought in Law Student Slaying; Video Captured Apparently Targeted NYC Shooting
Police have released part of a surveillance video that shows a man walking up behind a 31-year-old law student in Midtown Manhattan in broad daylight on Monday afternoon and shooting him in the head with a semiautomatic handgun.
Authorities in New York City are now seeking the man as a suspect in the slaying of Brandon Lincoln Woodard. His death was described by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly as an apparently targeted killing in which the videotaped assailant lay in wait for Woodward, according to the Los Angeles Times’ L.A. Now blog and the New York Times (reg. req.).
The assailant reportedly used a gun that was also used in a non-fatal shooting in Queens. He left the crime scene, on West 58th Street near Central Park, as a passenger in a nearby Lincoln sedan. Before the shooting, he is seen on the video talking with the driver.
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive. Kelly said Woodard may have been lured to the area for what the Associated Press describes as a crime that looks like a professional hit.
Despite his efforts to pursue a law school education at two different schools in California, Woodard had not yet earned his legal degree and had faced criminal charges in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He had been scheduled for a January court date concerning a felony cocaine possession charge in West Hollywood, the Associated Press reported.
The New York Post and Reuters also have stories.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Law Student Is Shot and Killed in Midtown Manhattan”
