- Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was killed outside New York Hilton Hotel in Midtown on December 4.
- Shell casings at the scene had words linked to the health insurance industry, suggesting the attack was ‘premeditated’.
- A hunt is ongoing for the masked shooter, who fled the scene on an electric bike.
- CCTV of a suspect has been released from a surveillance camera at the HI New York City Hostel, where it appears that he stayed
A backpack believed to have belonged to the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been found in New York City.
Police believe the gunman fled the city by bus after dumping his bag in a wooded area in Central Park where he cycled to after the ambush in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
It was unearthed south of the carousel near Heckscher playground and it looks similar to the gray backpack worn by the shooter during the attack on Thompson.
Its origin is yet to be officially confirmed after it was taken to be tested in a lab in Queens.
Investigators have been piecing together his whereabouts through CCTV footage before and after the shooting outside the Hilton Midtown hotel.
The suspect appears to have ridden a Citi Bike to Central Park and exited around 77th Street, then walked at 86th Street and Columbus Avenue and taken a taxi to a Port Authority bus station by Broadway and 178th Street.
‘Those buses are interstate buses,’ New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN on Thursday.
‘That’s why we believe he may have left New York City.’
Earlier on Thursday, it was revealed that a ‘little flirtation’ between a woman and the suspect may lead to his downfall more than three days later.
CCTV of a suspect has now been released from a surveillance camera at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side, where it appears that he stayed.
Grabs from the surveillance footage show him smiling during a flirtatious moment with a female employee at the hostel, CNN reported.
The woman told detectives that she asked to see his smile and that he lowered his mask.
He is seen giving the employee a big smile.
The pictures of their interaction add to a collection that has circulated on social media since the attack – including footage of the shooting itself and still frames of the suspected gunman stopping at a Starbucks beforehand.
What clues do the police have?
As the search extends into a third day, more and more clues have emerged.
The suspect travelled via Greyhound bus to New York 10 days before the shooting.
That bus started its route in Atlanta, and authorities do not know whether the suspect boarded it in that city or elsewhere.
Surveillance shows him getting off at around 9 pm on November 24 and walking through the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.
Investigators believe he then used a fake New Jersey ID when he checked in at the hostel.
Staff there said they remembered a man who almost always wore a mask when interacting with them or passing by the front desk.
Timeline of the shooting of Thompson
November 24 – suspect arrived in Manhattan via a bus and checks into the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue
November 29 – he checks out, but returns the following day
November 30 – he uses a fake New Jersey ID to book a room
December 4, 6.30am -Thompson arrives at the New York Hilton Hotel for an investor conference
6.40am – a man approaches Thompson outside the hotel, engages in a brief conversation, and then shoots him multiple times using a gun with a silencer
6.48am – the gunman flees the scene on an electric bike, heading towards Central Park
7.12am – Thompson is pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital
December 5 – NYPD releases images of the suspect and announces a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest
The investigation continues.
That person wore a coat that looked like the one worn by the man pictured in surveillance images released after the shooting, the official said.
It is understood that investigators were also looking into a gun purchase in Connecticut with the firearm resembling the one used in the shooting,
What was the shooter’s escape route?
Thompson was killed as he walked from his hotel to the company’s annual investor conference in Midtown, blocks from tourist attractions such as Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Centre.
Footage shows the assassin approaching his victim from behind, levelling his gun, which had a silencer, and firing several shots, hitting him in the back and leg.
Moments later, police said he fled on a bicycle and was last seen riding up to Sixth Avenue and into Central Park where he was last seen at 6.48am.
Investigators are canvassing places near the scene to create a timeline of his whereabouts.
What was the motive?
The brazen shooting of Thompson has shocked New York and sparked a flurry of theories about the reasons behind his death.
His wife, Paulette Thompson, revealed he had recently been hit with ‘some threats’.
Police are still working to determine the motive behind the murder of the dad-of-two, but a cryptic message on bullets found at the scene may offer a clue.
The words ‘deny,’ ‘defend’ and ‘depose’ were found on the ammunition.
The messages mimic the phrase ‘delay, deny, defend’, which is commonly used by lawyers and insurance industry critics to describe tactics used to avoid paying claims.
It refers to insurers delaying payment, denying a claim and then defending their actions.
A 2010 book by insurance law expert Professor Jay M Fienman was titled ‘Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claim and What You Can Do About’.
Health insurers like UnitedHealthcare have become frequent targets of criticism from doctors and patients for denying claims or complicating access to care.
‘This does not appear to be a random act of violence,’ stated the New York Police Department.
‘All indications are that it was a premediated, targeted attack.’
Bomb threat on Thompson’s home
Thompson’s residence was hit with bomb threats roughly 12 hours after he was killed.
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Police investigated the threats to his home in Maple Grove, Minnesota, according to a police report obtained by The New York Times on Thursday afternoon.
The state bomb squad was called to search two residences in the suburbs and did not find further evidence or explosives.
It was not immediately clear if the threats were at all connected to the assassination.
Detectives identified a fingerprint on a water bottle that the suspect left at scene but it was smudged, making it difficult to decipher, a law enforcement source told CNN.
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