As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer goes on, New York police late on Saturday released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi.
The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style mask.
Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting on Wednesday morning outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, said the New York police’s chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny.
With the high-profile search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late on Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.
On Saturday, NYPD investigators arrived in Atlanta following tips on the suspect. However, there were no additional details provided by local authorities’ beyond confirmation of the New York investigators’ presence in Georgia.
Police don’t know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. But they are confident it was a targeted attack instead of a random act. And New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, insisted on Saturday that “the net is tightening”.
Aided by drones, police officers scouring Central Park found a backpack believed to have been discarded by Thompson’s killer during his escape. NBC News, citing two sources, reported that there was fake money from the board game Monopoly inside the backpack.
In addition to the apparent targeted nature of the attack, the words “delay”, “deny” and possibly depose were written on shell casings found in the wake of Thompson’s killing. Such evidence has suggested the possibility that the motive is linked to the healthcare industry’s routine denial of payments for medical services to many Americans.
Healthcare debt has emerged as the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US while for-profit health insurers such as UnitedHealthcare are among the country’s wealthiest entities. Thompson, 50, who lived in Minnesota near UnitedHealthcare’s headquarters, commanded a salary of $10m annually before he was shot dead as he prepared to attend a meeting with investors of the company.
Thompson’s survivors include a wife and two sons, now 19 and 16.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
