A manhunt continues for the masked gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as police are looking into whether or not he may have fled New York City on a bus.
Police believe the suspect, who has not been captured or identified, arrived in Manhattan by bus on November 24, a full 10 days before he opened fire on the CEO outside the New York Hilton Midtown on Wednesday morning.
The unknown assailant then fled to Central Park on a Citi Bike. Surveillance footage captured the man leaving the park without his backpack, which has not been found, according to a law enforcement official.
Police are now looking into whether he left the city by bus. It’s believed he arrived in the city 10 days earlier on a bus that originated in Atlanta.
On Thursday, the NYPD released two photos of the assailant without his face covering from inside the HI New York City Hostel. He revealed his face after a hostel worker asked to “see his pretty smile,” police said. He is said to have used a fake New Jersey identification to book the room.
The manhunt for the suspect has entered its third day, with police investigating a smudged fingerprint found on a water bottle left at the scene that could potentially contain vital DNA.
Police are examining bullet casings found at the scene, which were inscribed with the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” — terms possibly linked to health insurers’ tactics to avoid paying claims.
Hundreds of tips have come in since CEO’s murder
The NYPD is looking into the hundreds of tips that have come in since Thompson was gunned down.
Carlos Nieves, the NYPD’s assistant commission of public information, said to keep them coming.
“You may think that piece of information is trivial. I’m telling you, please give us that information,” he said. “Trivial or not, it might be the piece of information that puts it all together for us.”
Nieves revealed to the New York Post that one tipster claims to have gone to school with the suspect.
“The guys in (CrimeStoppers) were actually saying, ‘We hang up the phone and another call comes in,” Nieves added. “One was actually coming in as I was speaking to them. It was actually a TikTok video and it says ‘I think this is the guy.’ So we have to look into that.”
Andrea Cavallier6 December 2024 18:08
Police believe suspect arrived in NYC on a bus – but is that how he left?
The suspect reportedly arrived in New York City by bus on November 24, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Surveillance footage at Port Authority Bus Terminal captured his bus arriving at 9 p.m.
The inbound bus came from Atlanta, but it’s unclear where the suspect got on board. He was reportedly spotted on the bus in Washington, D.C.
But did the suspect leave on a bus? Police are investigating. He has still not been caught.
Andrea Cavallier6 December 2024 16:50
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.
Andrea Cavallier6 December 2024 16:32
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.”
Andrea Cavallier6 December 2024 16:02
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.
Andrea Cavallier6 December 2024 15:16
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.
James Liddell6 December 2024 14:29
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.
James Liddell6 December 2024 14:06
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.
James Liddell6 December 2024 13:44
Flags fly at half-mast outside of UnitedHealthcare HQ
James Liddell6 December 2024 13:23
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:
James Liddell6 December 2024 13:02