No evidence taken from L.A. home of man gunned down in N.Y.

No evidence was removed from the Playa Vista home of a Los Angeles man who was gunned down this week as he walked down a bustling Manhattan street.  

Brandon Woodard, 31, was shot in the back of his head at close range with a 9-millimeter pistol Monday as he checked his cellphone, authorities said. The gunman got into a Lincoln sedan and calmly left the scene, they said.  

His parents were at the his home Wednesday as Los Angeles and New York police executed a search warrant, said Fred MacFarlane, a family spokesman.  

"They spent a decent amount of time at the property," MacFarlane said. "But coming out, they didn't remove any possessions from the property and asked the parents to sign a release."  

Woodard's stepfather, Rod Wellington, said Woodard was pursuing a law degree at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.

Woodard had been arrested at least 20 times, according to New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.  

Officials with the L.A. County district attorney's office said Woodard was due in Beverly Hills Superior Court on Jan. 22 for a hearing in connection with a single charge of cocaine possession. He was originally charged in June.  

Court records indicated that Woodard's mother had been involved in multiple civil lawsuits related to her real estate business dealings. When Woodard was arrested in January, he listed his occupation as real estate. 

Neither police nor family members said they had any idea what was the motive behind the shooting.  

"There haven't been any developments," MacFarlane said.  

Detectives spoke with Woodard's mother, Sandra Wellington, 56, Wednesday evening and said they had made some headway in determining who shot Woodard.  

"One of the detectives said they are very close," Wellington said in a telephone interview with the New York Times. "The detectives promised me that they will find the people who did this to my son."

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