Video released of suspect in Midtown murder

MIDTOWN (WABC) -- Seeking the public's help in identifying the shooter, the New York Police Department released security camera footage of the suspect wanted in the shooting of Brandon Lincoln Woodward in Midtown on Monday.

It shows the gunman, who appears to be bald and have a beard, exit the passenger side of a parked Lincoln sedan about 10 minutes before the shooting on Monday. He can be seen pulling the hood of his jacket over his head before approaching Woodard. A separate photo shows the gunman reaching into his pocket for a pistol moments before he shot the 31-year-old from Los Angeles in the back of the head.

Who killed Woodard and why remained a mystery on Tuesday as police studied security videotape of the unidentified gunman and delved into Woodard's checkered past for clues.

The slaying "was not a random thing as far as we can tell," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday.

The killing occurred on West 58th Street near the Time Warner Center, an area often teeming with car and pedestrian traffic. After the gunfire, the shooter slipped into the same Lincoln sedan and was driven away. No one else was harmed.

Arrest records in Los Angeles show that Woodard recently listed his occupation as real estate, a field in which there is an extensive record of his mother's involvement since before his birth - a record that includes civil court filings alleging loan irregularities and breach of contract.

Detectives questioned Woodard's father on Tuesday, extensively about his ex wife. They divorced in the early 1980s, and her husband, Brandon Woodard's step father.

Detectives were also investigating, sources told ABC News, Woodard's possible involvement in the drug trade - possibly as a mule, and are examining whether the broad daylight hit was the result of him beating someone out of their money.

In another development in the case, NYPD confirmed that the bullet recovered from the silver handgun used to kill Woodard matched bullets fired in Queens in 2009, in an incident in which no one was injured. According to spokesperson Paul Browne, the incident involving 2 gunmen happened on November 22, 2009. Shots were fired at a residence on Mangin Avenue in southeast Queens. A dozen shots damaged two front windows, a door frame, a side widow and siding.

Woodward graduated in 2003 from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He identified himself as a law school student in a 2004 interview, attended Whittier Law School from fall of 2010 to Spring 2011, and most recently enrolled in University of West Los Angeles Law School. He had law school identification on him when he was killed, police told ABC News.

Woodard has an extensive arrest, plea, and conviction record. His most recent arrest was possession of narcotics in California this past September. Woodward was also arrested on felony cocaine possession by Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies on April 8, 2012 in West Hollywood, Calif. His next court date was Jan 22 in Beverly Hills Court for preliminary hearing. Case # S8080966.

Woodard has approximately 20 prior arrests in California, stretching back to 2004. Those arrests include drug charges, battery, grant theft, robbery and petty theft.

In 2009, Woodward pleaded no contest to a felony and a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE OF THE SHOOTING IN MIDTOWN

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