Man executed on busy Midtown street in planned ‘hit’
By LARRY CELONA, KIRSTAN CONLEY and KENNETH GARGER
Last Updated: 5:39 AM, December 11, 2012
Posted: 1:44 AM, December 11, 2012
David McGlynn
Police investigate the scene where a man was executed on West 58th St.
A man in a business suit was executed in broad daylight on a Midtown street packed with holiday shoppers, tourists and workers returning from lunch yesterday, in what authorities called a carefully coordinated “assassination.”

The victim, 31-year-old Los Angeles resident Brandon Lincoln Woodard, had just left a hotel and was walking on West 58th Street shortly before 2 p.m. when his silent assassin came out of nowhere, authorities and witnesses said.

Woodard, the father of a 4-year-old girl, was texting before the shooting, sources said.

Getty Images
GORY DETAIL: With a barrier to shield the bloody scene from passers-by, police look over the scene where Brandon Lincoln Woodard (right) was gunned down yesterday.

The killer walked up behind him, whipped out a silver semiautomatic handgun and fired once into the back of his head.

SEE A MAP OF HOW THE MURDER WENT DOWN

Woodard fell on his back with blood pouring from his face outside St. Thomas Choir School, a Christian boys boarding school at 202 W. 58th St., about a block from Carnegie Hall and Columbus Circle.

The shooter disappeared as if he were “a ghost,’’ one witness said.

He coolly hopped into a waiting light-colored Lincoln sedan, with a getaway driver behind the wheel.

The car headed east but initially was caught in traffic and stopped at a red light at the intersection.

But both coldblooded riders didn’t panic and stayed inside the car — just feet from Woodard’s body — before turning down Seventh Avenue and disappearing.

“There was no rush,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said of Woodard’s killer. “He just walked up, shot him and walked away.”

A police source said the shooting was “definitely a hit, an assassination.”

Investigators are probing a possible connection to drug dealing.

Woodard was charged with cocaine possession in California last June and has prior arrests for robbery, petty theft and leaving the scene of an accident.

Police are also exploring to what extent Woodard — who once claimed he was roughed up by bodyguards working for R&B superstar Usher — had ties to the music industry, law-enforcement sources said.

Woodard, who was wearing a black suit, was dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital.

The shooter was described as black, wearing a dark coat with a brown hoodie and khaki pants.

David Mirambeau, 29, a UPS worker delivering packages, said the sound of the gunshot reverberated down the street.

“I just heard a gunshot. It was loud. There was blood all over his face,” he said of Woodard. “He was gasping for air. He was still alive.”

Mirambeau said several cellphones and an iPod lay near the man’s body.

The grisly exit wound on Woodard’s face led witnesses to report he had been shot in the front, not the back, of the head.

Witnesses ran to a firehouse at 215 W. 58th St. to say a man had been shot.

“I ran over to the Fire Department, banged on the door, and they came out immediately,” said Benny Harris, 44.

“Within minutes, they were cutting the guy’s clothes off,” he said.

“We didn’t see the perp,” Harris added. “We all ran over there, and nobody was around. He must’ve been a ghost.”

Police sources said investigators had found surveillance footage of the gangland-style murder but were unsure whether to release it because it doesn’t show the killer’s face — and it’s extremely graphic.

A single shell casing was recovered, police said.

Relatives poured into the Woodard family home in LA to pay condolences, but declined to comment.

“Brandon was a wonderful man — kind heart, smart, good person,” said family friend Chrissy Roussel, who added that Woodard was attending Whittier Law School in California and was visiting friends in New York.

Woodward’s father, J. Lincoln Woodard, 72, said, “It was a shock.”

The victim worked at United International Mortgage, an LA firm founded by his mother, Sandra McBeth-Reynolds. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/murder_hit_and_run_93juIYcZQt9vppBdfLE0xH

Drugs....who else needs "several" cell phones...

it was only two cell phones. It could be this guy
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...university.html

I dated a chick who lived a few blocks over on west 60th, im shocked this guy got away especially in broad daylight. He will be caught in a wk or two.

They picked the right time and plus they were cold as ice just sat there calmly at the lights and dissapeared off into the traffic. The car was lasted spotted going towards new jersey where im guessing theyve probably burnt it.

The car used to getaway was a rental from JFK Airport. It was seen on video cameras as it was entering the Midtown Tunnel (to Queens) after the shooting. I'm betting it will be torched (if it is even found, at all).

The gun used in the shooting was the same gun used in a Queens shooting from a few years ago.

Speculation is arising that the dead guy was a mule for some gang.

arson can get you as much time as manslaughter. whats wrong with using a stolen car?lol.or at least stolen plates?lol. i wouldnt give these guys that much credit,they probably still have the gun.lol.

NY city has to be the most videos city in the world now, you can't $#@^& anywhere and not be caught on tape...

could be an east coast- west coast thing. New York guys not appreciating LA guys moving product in the city.

Local news has announced that a couple had rented the getaway car from the airport. It is believed that the couple had lent the car to someone else and the couple are not suspects in this shooting.

The car has been recovered in Queens. I don't know any of the details.

The police did question one guy but then cut him loose. apparently theyve connected a number on his phone to a ak47 triple shooting also they do have a suspect that may have been the getaway driver but have made no arrests yet. They have also linked the victim to a drug ring and a possible motive being that some money or drugs went missing.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/victim-mob-style-hit-midtown-drug-courier-article-1.1219912

Yes I'm a sick fuck...so let me just ask is the video available?

all their showing is the killer waiting. And then the still image of him just pulling the gun out, but it will probably get leaked sooner or later.

Did you ever see this supposedly mafia killing on utube ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eveJKKboHAc

this is the previous shooting one of the cell phones the police are tracking is connected to.

3 men shot dead over dispute about girl
MATTHEW LYSIAK, IRVING DEJOHN, LARRY MCSHANE
Saturday, July 07, 2012
An enraged gunman packing an AK-47 stalked and executed three men on a Queens street, unleashing a hail of bullets sparked by a nightclub glance at the wrong woman. The killer sprayed 63 shots around 5 a.m. Saturday as the victims sat inside a double-parked Jeep Grand Cherokee — unaware the shooter was closing in, police said. “Someone followed (them) from the club,” said an emotional Katie Bussereth, the sister of the slain driver. “They didn’t want any money. They just wanted death.” The three men died from multiple bullet wounds in a gory scene reminiscent of an old-school mob hit. The trio had stopped to drop off a friend, who somehow survived the gunfire on 144th St. at 85th Ave. in Jamaica. One of the triple-homicide victims was shot right out of his shoes, with his barefoot body left on the street. A fourth man was wounded in the blizzard of assault rifle bullets. Two of the victims were identified as driver Jaime Bussereth, 33, a father of three, and Jamaican-born Jason Wood, 27, who has a 4-year-old son in his homeland. A friend of the victims said the brutal slayings were caused by a “fight over a girl” at the Albany Manor nightclub in Brooklyn earlier in the evening. “It was over a girl, over a look,” the friend said. “They were followed from the club and shot.” Two of the dead men were inside the vehicle, while the third was found on the ground near the rear passenger door.

update


Brandon Lincoln Woodard Murder Linked To Mexican Cocaine Ripoff, Sources Say
| Posted: 12/24/2012 10:34 am EST | Updated: 12/24/2012 10:34 am EST

By Joe Parziale, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — A ripoff involving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from Mexico was the motive behind the brazen execution of Los Angeles law student Brandon Woodard in the heart of Midtown earlier this month, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.

Law enforcement sources said that the killers — believed to be part of a Queens drug crew — paid "a substantial amount of cash," but never received their shipment of cocaine from the West Coast and were fed up waiting for it.

Woodard was lured to his death on West 58th Street near Seventh Avenue where he was shot in the back of the head in broad daylight.

Sources said the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the probe, considering the bicoastal aspects of the slaying, and its ties to other violence and murders.

"It is really not a homicide investigation," one source said. "It has become a major narcotics case involving a big operation and substantial money, perhaps millions of dollars."

The DEA is providing intelligence and resources to the NYPD about drug trafficking here and on the West Coast, and into possible connection reaching to drug distributors out of the nation of Jamaica, sources said.


Meanwhile, sources told “On the Inside” the NYPD is getting closer to identifying the cold-blooded killer who calmly pumped a bullet from a .9mm handgun into the back of Woodard’s head as he was lured to his death last week.

The NYPD has already identified the driver of the getaway car, DNAinfo.com New York previously reported.

Authorities suspect both the killer and the driver of the rented Lincoln MKZ are low-level Queens thugs with arrest records for drugs who are part of a powerful crew whose members they are trying to identify.

Neither of the possible suspects has been picked up and questioned as authorities are taking their time gathering evidence to make sure they have a strong case against them and that no false steps are made.

Woodard, who also has a lengthy criminal record including for dealing cocaine, was apparently a middleman or courier in the drug deal that went bad, sources explained.

“The Los Angeles guys thought they were tough, and could f--- with the boys from New York,” one source told “On The Inside.”

They were dead wrong.

“They screwed with the wrong people,” the source said.

"These guys move a lot of money and a lot of product," another source said.

DNAinfo.com New York previously reported that Woodward’s killing had ties to several other murders and shootings.

One of three cellphones found on Woodard was linked to a Brooklyn club promoter, who was an acquaintance of three men who were assassinated earlier this year after a party.

Those victims, each packing guns, were lured to a Queens schoolyard and executed in a fusillade of AK-47 automatic gunfire as they sat in a Jeep.

Investigators believed those killing had ties to marijuana and possibly cocaine trafficking out of the island of Jamaica — and the DEA is also providing intelligence related to Caribbean traffickers.

In addition, a single shell found at the West 58th Street crime scene matched bullets sprayed into a Queens home in 2009. A man who lived there at the time — and was a possible target — was involved in a fight on Staten Island earlier this year. A few days later, his attacker with was shot and killed.

Woodard’s brutal assassination was captured on several videos that were released by the NYPD. Images of the Lincoln getaway car were later captured heading into Queens from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, police said.

The woman who rented the car told investigators she gave it to another man, who in turn insists he lent it to someone else. Neither is considered a suspect.

Two and a Half Months Later, the Brandon Woodard Murder Still Hasn't Been Solved
By Justin Peters | Posted Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, at 11:00 PM

Brandon Woodard (R) and his still-unidentified killer.
New York Police Department
In December 2012, 31-year-old Brandon Woodard was shot and killed on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk in a brazen, broad-daylight attack that struck New Yorkers as both shocking and shockingly stupid. Woodard was shot in Midtown, one of the busiest neighborhoods of New York City. The shooting was captured on camera, and those images were soon all over the news and the web. The getaway car was spotted entering the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and was impounded by police a couple days later. The only thing the killers didn’t do, it seemed, was write their names and addresses next to the body.

At the time, it seemed likely that the assailants’ recklessness would be their undoing. “Cops don’t like being taunted,” I wrote at the time, “and shooting someone in the head in the middle of the day a block from where tourists rent horse-drawn carriages is a pretty good way to raise their ire. Even though they got away at the time, it’s only a matter of time before these guys get caught.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. Two and a half months later, Brandon Woodard’s killers are still at large. Is it really this easy to get away with murder?

Maybe. My initial post may have made too much of the fact that Woodard was shot in Midtown. It doesn’t necessarily matter where the murder takes place, be it ever so public—without a solid lead, it’s hard to make an arrest. And while the shooter got caught on camera, that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier for the police to identify, locate, and arrest him: the footage was grainy and the shooter’s face was obscured. The best leads in murder cases tend to come from physical evidence or tips from friends and relatives. But the best lead in the Woodard case—the rented getaway car—turned out to be a dead end; cops decided that the woman who rented the car wasn’t actually involved in the shooting.

That’s not to say that the cops haven’t learned anything about the case. In fact, they’ve learned a lot about the oft-arrested Brandon Woodard, who, at the time of his death, was allegedly involved in the cross-country drug trade. According to an article by Murray Weiss of DNAinfo.com, a website that covers local news in New York, police believe Woodard was the middleman for a group of Los Angeles drug dealers who had allegedly cheated a New York group out of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Mexican cocaine.

It seems as if Brandon Woodard’s death is just a small part of a much bigger story, and maybe that helps explain why nobody has been arrested yet. It’s possible that locking up the guys who killed Woodard might make it harder to investigate the higher-ups who ordered the hit. But it’s just as possible that the cops just plain don’t know who did it. It’s hard to solve a murder, even one as public as this.

Very interesting. Things like this always intrigue me

I got a feeling someones covering their tracks. Any money on these two being the shooter and getaway driver.

2 Burned Bodies Found After Fire in Queens Marshland
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/nyregi....html?_r=1&

They might have covered their tracks better...

...thought there was a morality, good citizen clause in becoming an attorney...

To be fair, Whittier is not a real law school. It is a third tier dump that accepts anyone with a heartbeat. Woodard probably had to sell drugs to fund his 200k scam education.

turns out my guess was wrong.
Men Found Dead in Howard Beach May Have Been in Drug Turf War, Sources Say

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130307...y#ixzz2MxphPVWX

^^
Look up lawyer Paul Bergrin. You want to talk about 'morality clause'.

I thought Howard's beach didn't have many black people in it

I did. Fricken unbelievable. Would make a great flic: comedy, drama, horror, slasher. Take your pick.

Qoute from Wiki:

New York Magazine called Bergrin "The Baddest Lawyer in the History of Jersey - And that’s saying something".

it said they were killed elsewhere and then dumped in the brush near howard beach.

This is a serious,serious crew

it does seem it southend, theyve got the triple a k47 slaying and the mid town hit attributed to them, i was just speculating with these last two that were found in the fire, i thought they might have been the shooter and driver from the midtown hit.Theres not really been a notable drug gang in queens since probably the supreme team, pappy mason, fat cat etc.