Police appear to be honing in on the identity of the suspect who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Officers are said to be seeking a search warrant for a location in New York City where they believe the alleged killer may have been hiding, sources told ABC News on Thursday.
Thompson, a 50-year-old Minnesota resident, was due to speak at an investor meeting when he was gunned down at point blank range around 6:45 a.m. outside the New York Hilton Midtown on 6th Avenue. Police are calling the crime a “targeted attack”.
The alleged killer was last seen cycling out of Central Park on West 85th Street just before 7 a.m. about 12 minutes after cycling into the park on a Citi Bike, according to footage obtained by NBC News. The assailant has since remained at large.
During his escape, the gunman appeared to drop a water bottle he had purchased from Starbucks 30 minutes before the attack, which could provide vital DNA evidence in helping identify the suspect.
The alleged killer left behind a cryptic message, with the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” were allegedly inscribed on live rounds and shell casing left outside.
Just in: Police ‘closing in’ on identity of gunman
Police appear to be drawing closer to identifying the suspect who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning, sources say.
Officers are said to be seeking a search warrant for an undisclosed location in New York City where they believe the alleged killer may have been hiding, sources told ABC News on Thursday.
It comes as the gunman is still at large, and no arrests have been made – with the New York City Police Department offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the assailant.
The suspect gunned Thompson down outside a Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, hitting him in the back and right calf, at approximately 6:46 a.m., according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
He was last seen cycling out of the park on West 85th Street just before 7 a.m., according to footage obtained by NBC News.
New York CEO shooting mapped: Movements of gunman who killed Brian Thompson
The manhunt for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a shooting in the heart of Manhattan has now entered its second day, with the killer still at large.
With the gunman’s identity unknown and the motive still a mystery, authorities are trying to piece together the killer’s movements that morning – and where he went next.
James Liddell has outlined from the first moment the suspect was sighted at 5:00 a.m. to the last, two hours later.
Gunman ‘filmed cycling’ out of Central Park in most recent sighting, sources say
The suspect who gunned down Brian Thompson was allegedly seen in surveillance footage exiting Central Park on a bicycle about 15 minutes after the shooting, according to sources.
The video footage, obtained by CBS News, appears to show the suspect cycling out of the park on West 85th Street just before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, the sources told the outlet.
It would mark the most recent sighting of the assailant, following the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting at about 6:46 a.m. He was later pronounced dead in hospital at approximately 7:12 a.m.
Prior to the new sighting, the suspect was last spotted heading north on 6th Avenue towards Central Park at 6:48 a.m. allegedly with a City Bike, an electronic bicycle.
ICYMI: Surveillance footage captures gunman shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO dead in New York City
Shooting suspect filmed near NYC housing project almost two hours before attack
The suspect who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a harrowing point blank shooting was seen in video footage in New York City nearly two hours before the crime, sources say.
The suspect, a white male dressed entirely in black, was initially spotted on a Starbucks security camera at West 56th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan approximately 30 minutes before Thompson’s death at about 6:46 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
Now, sources have told ABC News that he was recorded on video much earlier.
The suspect was allegedly recorded walking outside the Frederick Douglass Houses, a public housing project on the Upper West Side, as early as 5:00 a.m., according to the outlet.
Fox News attempts to tie Brian Thompson’s shooting to NYC’s ‘migrant crisis’
Leave it to Fox News to somehow find a way to shoehorn the topic of illegal immigration and “migrant crime” into breaking coverage of the “brazen” murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who authorities say was “specifically targeted” outside of a New York City hotel on Wednesday.
Moderating a panel discussion about the shocking attack, which took place early in the morning outside the New York Midtown Hilton, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner referenced a recent New York Post story about the number of “illegal migrants” in NYC who have criminal records.
While acknowledging that law enforcement hasn’t linked immigration to Thompson’s murder, Faulkner asserted that it was still a relevant topic because the sheer number of “migrant criminals” in the city is bogging down the New York Police Department.
Justin Baragona has the full story.
Thompson received ‘some threats’ before ‘brazen targeted attack’
A manhunt is underway after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on Wednesday morning in what cops described as a “brazen targeted attack” outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
Thompson’s wife said her husband had recently received threats from angry customers over complaints she believed may have had to do with “a lack of coverage.”
“I don’t know details,” Paulette Thompson told NBC News. “I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Justin Rohrlich has the full story.
Police uncover more evidence from the scene
Police have revealed they have new evidence gleaned from the scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was slain in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning.
Detectives from the New York City Police Department recovered three live nine-millimeter rounds outside the Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue, sources New York Post.
The 50-year-old Minnesota resident was set to speak at an investor meeting when he was gunned down around 6:45 a.m.
Investigators are continuing to piece together the motive, according to the police sources.
Gunman appeared to have military or police experience, say experts
The suspect connected with the shooting of Brian Thompson is believed to be an experienced marksman, according to police officials.
Detectives told CNN that the alleged gunman’s slow, deliberate movements suggested that he has fired a weapon before.
The gun appeared to malfunction with each shot, according to firearm experts.
However, the suspect managed to clear the jam in the weapon with ease, which points towards the assailant having previously received weapons training.
Suspect’s getaway vehicle revealed: an E-bike
The suspected shooter of Brian Thompson is said to have used an electric bike to flee the scene, police say.
After the assailant crossed the street outside near a Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue in Manhattan, he fled through an alleyway before hopping on the E-bike on 55th Street, investigators told CNN.
He then headed north on 6th Avenue towards central park, where he was last seen at 6:48 a.m.
Police think the suspect may have previously taken the subway from the Upper West Side to Midtown, law enforcement officials told the outlet.
Source: independent.co.uk