As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killer continues, New York police late Saturday released two additional photos of the suspected gunman, apparently taken from a camera inside a taxi cab.
The first shows him outside the car, and the second shows him peering through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both photos, his face is partially obscured by a blue medical mask.
Police used surveillance video to track the gunman and said he appears to have left the city by bus shortly after the shooting outside the Hilton Midtown in New York on Wednesday morning. . He was seen on video about 45 minutes later at an uptown bus stop, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney said.
As the high-profile investigation expands across state lines, the FBI late Friday offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to the maximum $10,000 reward offered by the NYPD. Announced in addition to gold. Police say they believe the suspect committed the crime alone.
On Saturday, NYPD investigators arrived in Atlanta following information on a suspect. However, local authorities did not provide further information other than confirmation that New York investigators were in Georgia.
Police don't know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. But they believe it was a targeted attack rather than a random act. And New York City Mayor Eric Adams insisted on Saturday that “the net is getting tighter.”
Officers searching Central Park with the help of a drone found a backpack believed to have been left behind by Thompson's killer as he fled. NBC News, citing two sources, reported The backpack reportedly contained fake money from the board game Monopoly.
In addition to clearly being a targeted attack, the shell casings found after Thompson was killed had the words “Delay,” “Deny,” and possibly Resignation written on them. Such evidence suggests that the motive may be related to the medical industry's routine refusal to pay for medical services to many Americans.
While medical debt has emerged as a leading cause of bankruptcies in the United States, for-profit health insurance companies such as United Healthcare are among the wealthiest companies in the country. Thompson, 50, who lived near UnitedHealthcare's headquarters in Minnesota, was receiving a $10 million annual salary before he was shot and killed as he prepared to attend a meeting with the company's investors.
Mr. Thompson is survived by his wife and two sons, now ages 19 and 16.
