Decades ago, before the age of surveillance cameras at every turn -- this unidentified suspect may have been able to flee the scene of a triple shooting undetected.

But he was caught by one of the many electronic eyes near Columbia University - walking calmly down the street, on the phone, holding a bag.

He is the suspect in a cold-blooded triple murder that took place just minutes earlier...inside a BMW sedan parked not far away on 122nd street in Morningside Heights.

Police say 30-year old Amaury Rodriguez -- the driver, 26-year old Heriberto Suazo -- in the front passenger seat, and rear passenger Luis Catalan, were all shot in the head at point blank range.

Norma Catalan and her family came to crime scene Friday night, to hold a vigil for her son.

"My son was the best son ever.  I raised my son in the streets doing events against stuff like this -- against crime," Norma Catalan told PIX11.

But law enforcement sources say based on the drug and weapons arrests on their criminal records of all three victims their murders may have been the result of a drug deal gone bad, or retaliation for some ongoing feud between dealers.

In fact, Suazo was busted last year with 12 pounds of marijuana.

Not so, said the Catalans, who maintain Luis was serious about his rap career -- and his family.

Catalan's aunt, Myrna Castellar told PIX11, "(He was) very excited about having a little boy - about being a father this year.  "Very family oriented, he always traveled alone so it was very discomforting to know that it was him in a car - somebody else's car, because he always used his mother's car."

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