Gerard Woodley, a man who was suspected of killing famed rapper Big L back in 1999, was fatally shot in Harlem on Thursday (June 23.) The New York Daily News reports that Woodley was shot in the head and back during a confrontation in front of his home on W. 139th St. near Malcolm X Blvd. just after 11pm.

A neighborhood resident, Iesha Sekou, recalled hearing three shots firing “back to back.”

"They were pretty loud and I heard one scream," she said.

The never-convicted Woodley had been arrested for three separate murders in the 1990; most infamously in the Big L case. Born Lamont Coleman, L was killed outside his home in Harlem on Feb. 15, 1999. Woodley reportedly had been feuding with the rapper’s brother, but the case was ultimately thrown out due to a lack of evidence.

Woodley may have consistently escaped murder convictions, but he wound up doing time for gun possession twice. He served five years on a gun charge in the early 2000s and was again incarcerated in 2011 on a second gun possession conviction in state court. He was released from prison last year, according to records.

“Where was his bodyguard?” Woodley's mother, Lavern Black, asked after she was notified of Woodley's killing.

No motive has been disclosed as yet regarding Woodley's murder.

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