UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting latest: NYPD zero in on suspect’s ID as backpack found in Central Park
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer may have left the city, police said, after investigators recovered the suspect’s backpack in Central Park
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A manhunt continues for the masked gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel as police uncover more evidence that is potentially linked to the suspect of interest.
Investigators uncovered a backpack in Central Park that is believed to have belonged to the suspected shooter late Friday. Police did not open the backpack and immediately sent it to forensics.
Police also have video of the man entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal after fleeing the scene of the shooting on a bicycle, but no video of him exiting, leading them to believe he left the city, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN.
“We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Friday, adding that police released photos of the person not wearing a mask, described as the “money shot”.
The gunman was masked during the shooting and used a fake New Jersey ID to book a room at the HI New York City Hostel, but pulled down the covering during a flirty exchange with a clerk.
Police say he arrived in New York from Atlanta, Georgia on a Greyhound bus last month, checking into his hostel on November 30.
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Video shows suspect leaving park without backpack
A law enforcement official told the New York Times that the man believed to be the shooter was captured on surveillance footage leaving Central Park without his backpack.
The suspect was spotted carrying the gray backpack when he opened fire on CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning. He was still wearing the bag when he fled on a bike and entered Central Park minutes after the shooting.
Police have been searching the park, but the backpack has not been found.
NYC mayor says ‘we are on the road to apprehending’ the CEO shooter
New York City Mayor Eric Adams spoke out about the latest in the search for the gunman who killed CEO Brian Thompson.
“We are on the right road to apprehending him,” Adams told PIX11 on Friday morning.
He also told NY1 this morning: “We’re on the right track. We’re going to bring this person to justice. This person was fully masked, and we used good old-fashioned police work to come up with the picture you have.”
DNA evidence from hostel being tested
DNA evidence recovered from the hostel where the suspect stayed the night before the shooting has been taken to the lab at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for testing, a person briefed on the matter told the New York Times.
Major break in search for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer came from a flirty moment with hostel receptionis
By lowering his mask and flashing a “flirtatious” smile to a hostel front desk clerk, the suspect in the fatal Brian Thompson shooting has given police their biggest break yet.
Clear surveillance images released by the New York Police Department on Thursday showed the “person of interest wanted for questioning” unmasked in Wednesday’s killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as the manhunt enters its third day.
Rhian Lubin has the story.
Major break in search for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer came from a flirty moment
The surveillance images reportedly capture the moment the suspect was flirting with a female worker of the hostel where he was staying
When a medical insurance CEO was gunned down in the street, some people celebrated his death
When the CEO of one of the largest medical insurance companies in the United States was gunned down on the streets of Manhattan on Wednesday, his death quickly turned into a larger conversation about the much-reviled industry in which he worked.
Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, had been in New York City for a conference when he was killed in what police believe was a targeted shooting.
Among hundreds of posts on social media about the shocking murder, many people were moved to talk about the injustice of the health insurance industry. Often the dark jokes on X, Instagram, Reddit and TikTok spoke to how cruel medical insurance companies can be to their customers. Some even wrote folk songs about the event.
Read Richard Hall’s full analysis below.
Reactions to the killing of insurance CEO reveal a deep anger over US healthcare
The reaction to Thompson’s murder reveals a deep anger among many Americans about the unfairness of the US health insurance industry, Richard Hall writes
UnitedHealthcare removes leadership pages after CEO’s death
UnitedHealthcare is believed to have removed a page listing its executives on the company’s about us page after its chief Brian Thompson was gunned down in the street on Wednesday.
The health insurer has appeared to pull down a page listing senior staff, in what is assumed to protect the identity of its personnel, according to a report by 404 Media.
Other major insurers, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and CareSource are believed to have also removed pages from their website, according to reports.
Flags fly at half-mast outside of UnitedHealthcare HQ
Everything we know about UnitedHealthcare CEO murdered in Manhattan
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in what police called a “brazen targeted attack” in Manhattan early on Wednesday.
A massive manhunt is underway for the unidentified shooter, who fled the scene on a bike. Police searched a hostel in the Upper West Side where they believe the suspect was staying, CNN reported Thursday morning.
Katie Hawkinson and Madeline Sherratt detail everything we know so far about the fatal attack on the 50-year-old insurance CEO:
Who is Brian Thompson – the slain CEO of UnitedHealthcare?
The CEO’s wife said he received threats before the fatal shooting
Hostel worker asked suspect to pull down mask to ‘see his pretty smile’
Brian Thompson’s killer was asked by a female hostel worker to pull his mask down to “see his pretty smile,” a high-ranking NYPD officer told CBS News.
The New York Times has identified the lodgings as the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue near 104th Street in Manhattan, sources told the outlet. The suspect is said to have used a fake New Jersey identification book the room upon arriving on November 24, a senior law enforcement official told the newspaper.
It was at that hostel where the assailant was recorded on surveillance cameras revealing his face, after having a conversation and apparently flirting with the woman on the front desk.