New York police continue to hunt for Brian Thompson’s killer – The Irish Times

Urgent search on Thursday continued in New York City as police combed through a vast network of private and public surveillance cameras and searched for leads in the search for the man who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson the previous morning.

Investigators used drones and dogs, and examined data related to public electric bikes from Citi Bike, as the suspect remained at large after police chiefs called it a targeted killing.

ABC News reported Thursday morning, citing police sources, that police were closing in on the suspect.

Clues included a cell phone, video of the suspect on the Upper West Side and bullet casings found at the scene with the words “deny,” “defend” and “drop,” according to unnamed sources who also spoke to them. ABC News.

Police searched a hostel on the outskirts of the city where the suspect was believed to be staying, CNN reported, adding that police found a fingerprint while examining items linked to the man, including a cellphone and a water bottle, and that the evidence was being investigated. in the hope that it can identify the person.

“This does not appear to be a random act of violence,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters. “Everything points to this being a deliberate, pre-planned, targeted attack.”

Thompson was killed by a man wearing black with a gray backpack and his face covered up to his nose around 6:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday. Police used the word “he” when referring to the suspect.

The man in question pointed a silenced pistol at Thompson’s back and shot the executive at least once in the back and calf just as he was about to enter the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan for an annual investor conference.

As Thompson fell to the pavement, the gun jammed, the man, who police said was “proficient” with firearms, quickly retrieved it and continued shooting.

The suspect then fled on an electric bicycle to nearby Central Park. As of Thursday, no arrests had been made in the case, and police offered a $10,000 reward for information.

Beginning Wednesday, police also discovered footage of a man outside the Frederick Douglass public housing project on Manhattan’s Upper West Side around 5 a.m. local time, ABC News reported.

The suspect’s motives remain unknown. Thompson’s widow said her husband had been threatened. However, such incidents are not uncommon in controversial sectors.

“There were some threats,” Paulette Thompson told NBC News. “Basically, I don’t know, lack of coverage? I don’t know the details. I just know he said there were people threatening him.”

UnitedHealthcare is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest companies in the United States. The branch insures tens of millions of people with private health insurance.

The need for private sector health insurance is a fact of life in the US, but is often a thorn in the side of Americans, and insurers are often accused of unfairly denying coverage. The company was also the subject of an insider investigation and an unfair trading practices investigation, Fox Business News reported.

Thompson’s killing quickly shook the corporate world, and corporate security chiefs gathered on a conference call until Wednesday.

“Many of my colleagues today are sitting around the table with their defense and security team leaders and reevaluating what they’re doing and what they’re not doing,” Dave Komendat, president of Seattle-based Komendat Risk Management Services, told New York. times

Another security chief, MPS Security & Protection chief executive Michael Julian, told Axios: “I’m just shocked that the guy didn’t have protective gear.”

Thompson is survived by his wife Paulette and two sons. – Guardian

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