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.
The images reportedly capture the moment the suspect was “flirting” with a female worker of the hostel in the city’s Upper West Side where he was staying, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Police interviewed the female employee of the Hi New York Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue near 104th Street, and she asked the suspect to lower the mask to “see his pretty smile,” a high-ranking source told CBS News.
“They were having a flirtatious moment and he pulls it down and he gives a big smile and that one informal moment between two human beings remains at this moment the most significant clue to date in this whole case,” former NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller told the network.
A spokesperson for the hostel said they were fully cooperating with the NYPD and “cannot comment” further due to the active investigation, CBS reports. Police searched the hostel for clues on Thursday.
Thompson, a 50-year-old health insurance boss and father of two, was shot at point-blank range near the New York Hilton Hotel in Midtown on Wednesday morning just before a scheduled investor meeting.
The unidentified suspect is reported to have traveled to New York on a Greyhound bus that originated from Atlanta, according to CNN, and had been in the city 10 days prior to the shooting.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect getting off the bus in New York around 9 p.m. ET on November 24.
Officials have not been able to pinpoint exactly where he boarded, stating it could have been in Atlanta or elsewhere.
On the day he arrived in the city, he was captured on CCTV surveillance stepping off the bus at around 9 p.m ET and was spotted walking through the Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, according to law enforcement sources.
He then checked into the hostel, left on November 29, and then used a fake New Jersey driver’s license to check back in on November 30.
While in the hostel, he is reported to have slept in a multi-person room with two other males and wore a mask for the majority of his stay.
His whereabouts from November 30 to Wednesday morning are still unclear but he is believed to have stayed at the hostel.
Thompson’s family said that they are “shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian” in a statement obtained by KARE.
“Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives,” they said.
“Most importantly, Brian was an incredibly loving father to our two sons and will be greatly missed. We appreciate your condolences and request complete privacy as our family moves through this difficult time.”