Investigators have released surveillance video as they try to track down a brazen killer who shot a man to death near Columbus Circle in broad daylight Monday.
Police say Brandon Woodard, 31, was shot in the back of the head at close range on 58th Street near Seventh Avenue in Midtown around 2 p.m.
A freeze-frame from the footage shows him moments before he was gunned down, with the shooter behind him, pulling a weapon out of his pocket.
Investigators say the gunman got into a waiting car which sped off.
Woodard was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital.
Investigators say he's an aspiring rapper from Los Angeles with a criminal record that includes a charge for cocaine possession and guilty pleas for a felony and a hit-and-run.
According to reports, despite his record, he had enrolled in law school.
Witnesses say the shooter came out of nowhere.
"It was like a small little pop like a fire cracker more or less," said one witness.
"It was deadly quiet and the ambulance went in a brought the body by then police were all over the scene," said another witness.
A childhood friend says Woodard would have been graduating from law school soon, and is leaving behind a young daughter.
"Our hearts are just very hurt right now," said Rodney Wellington, Woodard's stepfather. "So we're trying to deal with the grief of a loss of a son, a loss of a father and a loss of a brother."
Investigators say the shooter was last seen wearing khaki pants and a dark hooded jacket.
The getaway car was a light grey Lincoln MKZ sedan. Investigators say the shooter left in the same car he arrived in.
Police say ballistics tests show the gun was also used in an unsolved shooting in Queens in 2009. In that case, bullets hit a building and no one was injured.
Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
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