A manhunt continued on Thursday in New York City as police combed through a vast network of private and public surveillance cameras and pursued leads in search of the person who shot and killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, the previous morning.
Investigators deployed drones and dogs as well as sifting through data related to public-use electric bikes from the company Citi Bike, as the suspect remained at large after what police chiefs said was a targeted killing.
On Thursday morning ABC News reported that police were closing in on a suspect, citing police sources.
Among clues were a cell phone, footage of the suspect in the Upper West Side neighborhood, and shell casings from bullets found at the scene with the words “deny”, “defend” and “depose”, according to unnamed sources who also spoke with ABC News.
Police searched a hostel in that uptown neighborhood where the suspect is believed to have stayed, CNN reported, also reporting that police found a fingerprint while investigating objects connected to the man, including a cellphone and a water bottle, and that evidence was being examined in hopes it could pin down an identity.
The cable network later further reported that investigators have managed to acquire one image of the suspect where he is not wearing a mask, from his time at the hostel.
“This does not appear to be a random act of violence,” Jessica Tisch, New York City police commissioner, told reporters. “Every indication is that this was a premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack.”
Thompson was killed by a man in black carrying a gray backpack and with his face covered up to the nose around 6.40am ET Wednesday. The police have been using the word “he” when referring to the suspect.
The man in questions had leveled a handgun fitted with a silencer at Thompson’s back and shot the executive at least once in the back and the calf, just as he was about to enter a midtown Manhattan Hilton hotel for an annual investor conference.
As Thompson collapsed on the sidewalk, the gun jammed, the man – “proficient” in firearms according to police – quickly cleared it and resumed shooting.
The suspect then fled on an e-bike into nearby Central Park. As of Thursday, there have been no arrests in the case, and police offered a $10,000 reward for information.
Since Wednesday, police have also uncovered footage of the man near the Frederick Douglass public housing project on Manhattan’s Upper West Side around 5am ET, ABC News reported.
The suspect’s motives remain unknown. Thompson’s widow said her husband had received threats. However, such incidents are not uncommon in controversial sectors.
“There had been some threats,” Paulette Thompson told NBC News. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
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UnitedHealthcare is a branch of UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest companies in the United States. The branch insures tens of millions of people with private health coverage.
The need for private-sector health insurance is a fact of life in the US, but frequently a thorn in American’s side, and insurers are often accused of unfairly denying coverage. The company was also the subject of an insider trader investigation and inquiry into unfair trade practices, Fox Business News reported.
Thompson’s killing quickly sent shockwaves through the corporate world, with corporate security heads gathering in a conference call to Wednesday.
“Many of my colleagues today are sitting down with their executive protection team leaders, their security leadership teams, and re-evaluating what they are doing and not doing,” Dave Komendat, president of Seattle-based Komendat Risk Management Services told the New York Times.
Another security executive, CEO Michael Julian of MPS Security & Protection, told Axios: “I’m just shocked the guy didn’t have a protective detail.”
Thompson is survived by his wife Paulette and two sons.
The Associated Press contributed to reporting