Ros Atkins on… How the New York Shooting Happened
The New York Police Department has released two photos of an unmasked individual wanted for questioning in the murder of a health system executive.
UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson, 50, was fatally shot in the back Wednesday morning outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
The attacker fled the scene without taking any of Thompson's personal belongings. Police believe the victim was the target of a planned murder.
Investigators are also using facial recognition technology and bullet casings with cryptic messages written on them to track down the suspect. They have not yet revealed the motive for the shooting.
Here's what we know about the suspect and the investigation.
NYPD
Police are seeking the public's help in identifying a person wanted for questioning in connection with the murder.
How did the shooting and the escape take place?
The shooting took place around 6:45 a.m. EST (11:45 a.m. GMT) in a busy Manhattan neighborhood near Times Square and Central Park. Thompson was scheduled to speak at an investors conference later today.
Police said the suspect — who wore a black mask and a light brown or cream jacket — appeared to wait for Thompson for five minutes outside the Hilton Hotel where he was scheduled to speak.
Thompson, who arrived on foot, was shot in the back and leg and was pronounced dead about a half hour later at a local hospital.
New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny revealed that the suspect's gun appeared to jam, but he was able to quickly repair it and continue shooting.
CCTV footage appears to show the shooter had fitted a silencer, also known as a silencer, to his gun, BBC Verify has established.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams – a veteran of the NYPD – told MSNBC that the use of a silencer was unprecedented in his career.
“I’ve never seen a muffler before,” he said. “It was a really shocking thing for all of us.”
Investigators reportedly believe it is a BT Station Six 9 firearm, a weapon marketed as dating back to pistols used by allied special operations forces of World War II.
Police reportedly visited gun stores in Connecticut to try to determine where the gun was purchased.
After the shooting, video shows the suspect fleeing the scene on foot. Officials initially said the suspect was using an electric Citi bike owned by Lyft.
But Lyft, which owns and operates Citi Bike, later said it was told by New York police that one of its vehicles had not been used, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.
The investigation
So far, the investigation into Thompson's murder has focused on a few clues that police are using to identify the suspect.
Authorities released two images Thursday of an unmasked man who the New York Police Department said was “wanted for questioning” in connection with the killing.
Law enforcement sources told CBS that the person allegedly used a fake ID to check into a hostel in the area. The name used is fraudulent and does not appear to belong to a real person.
It is not known if this is the same person as the suspect.
Earlier, police revealed that the suspect was photographed at a nearby Starbucks just minutes before the shooting.
Although he is masked in the image, law enforcement sources told CBS that the mask is pulled down enough that his eyes and part of his nose are visible.
With this, investigators use facial recognition software to try to find a match.
Investigators have so far not identified a motive for the killing, although police noted the attacker fled without taking any of Thompson's personal belongings.
Additionally, police are testing three bullet casings and three live rounds found at the scene for DNA.
The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found on the boxes, two police sources told CBS.
Investigators believe this may be a reference to the “three Ds of insurance,” a reference known to industry opponents.
The terms refer to tactics used by insurance companies to deny patients' requests for payment in the complicated and mostly privately run U.S. health care system.
The words resemble – but are not exactly the same – the title of a book called Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Won't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
The book, published in 2010, was written by Jay Feinman, a legal scholar at Rutgers University in New Jersey. It is billed as an expose on the insurance industry and a practical guide for Americans on how to navigate the system.
Professor Feinman declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
A cell phone was discovered in an alley along the suspect's escape route. Police say they are “working on” the phone.
A coffee cup allegedly thrown by the suspect was also dusted for fingerprints and sent to an NYPD crime lab in hopes it could help reveal his identity or establish a chain of events.
Investigators also said they executed a search warrant at a location on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where he was seen entering earlier in the day.
The location is near the Frederick Douglas housing project, where police say surveillance video showed the suspect outside around 5 a.m. the morning of the crime.
Police said earlier they would also search Thompson's room at the nearby Marriott, which is down the street from where the incident took place.
Thompson joined UnitedHealth, the largest private insurer in the United States, after leaving accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2004.
He rose through the ranks and became CEO in 2021, leading the company for some very profitable years.
In an interview with MSNBC, Thompson's wife said there had been “some threats” against him earlier, although she was unable to provide details.
“I just know he said some people were threatening him,” she said.
According to police in Thompson's hometown of Maple Grove, Minnesota, there was a previous suspicious incident at his home in 2018.
The incident was resolved without any criminal activity being detected. No additional details were provided.
Watch: What we know about the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting
