Authorities intensify the manhunt for the suspect in the targeted killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, as evidence mounts and a $60,000 reward is offered for leads.
Authorities are closing in on the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was quoted as saying on Saturday by the New York Post.
"The net is tightening," Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League holiday party in Harlem, according to the Post. He declined to name the suspect.
Thompson, 50, who became CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit in April 2021, was shot in the back around 6:45 a.m. ET (1145 GMT) on Wednesday in what police described as a targeted attack by a masked assailant lying in wait.
The murder occurred just before the company's annual investor conference at the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue.
The shooting sparked a massive manhunt for the gunman, who fled on foot wearing a hooded jacket, balaclava and gray backpack before mounting an electric bike and riding into Central Park, police said.
Adams declined to say whether investigators had the suspect’s name, according to the NY Post.
“We don’t want to release that now,” the mayor said. “If you do, you are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all. Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask."
"We revealed his face," he continued, referring to security camera photos and video released after the murder. "We’re going to reveal who he is and we’re going to bring him to justice.”
A backpack resembling the one worn by the suspect has been recovered near a playground in Central Park, according to media reports. MSNBC said on Saturday that police examining the bag and its contents found a jacket and Monopoly money, but no firearm.
Police divers were searching for the weapon used in the killing in a pond in Central Park on Saturday, CNN reported, citing police sources. Reuters has not independently verified the account.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN on Friday that police have gathered “a huge amount of evidence,” including fingerprints, DNA evidence and a camera footage of the suspect’s movements throughout the city.
New York police said on Friday they believe the suspect had left New York City, after video emerged showing him climbing into a taxi that took him to a bus station.
"We have video of him entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal. We don't have any video of him exiting so we believe he may have gotten on a bus," New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. "Those buses are interstate buses. That's why we believe he may have left New York City."
The New York police have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the shooter and the FBI has added $50,000 to that reward.
The circumstances of the attack suggested it was premeditated and planned, police said, with video showing the gunman ignoring other pedestrians while appearing to wait for Thompson. The shooter's motive is not yet known.
Security video showed the shooter behind Thompson, raising his handgun and firing at his back. Thompson, a married father of two, suffered gunshot wounds to his back and leg and was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the attack.
UnitedHealth is the largest U.S. health insurer, providing benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for healthcare than people in any other country.
Russian strikes targeting Ukraine's energy sector killed at least 11 people across the country early on Wednesday, Ukrainian Presiden...
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, p...
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute former U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people...
Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone who had come into contact with a Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died last week, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted.
A large Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region has killed two people, damaged homes and sparked a major fire at a key fuel facility, according to Russian officials and military bloggers.
An Azerbaijani citizen died and another is missing after a cargo ship was attacked by a drone in the Black Sea, near the coast of Romania on Monday, 5 October, Baku's Foreign Ministry has said.
The German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference 2026 commenced on 6 October in Baku under the title “Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy, and Digitalisation along the Middle Corridor.”
Police fired tear gas at protesters blockading French high schools on Tuesday as students, teachers and parents took to the streets on the biggest day of action in a wave of demonstrations against understaffed and dilapidated classrooms.
Russian strikes targeting Ukraine's energy sector killed at least 11 people across the country early on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Flats, industrial plants and infrastructure were also damaged in the attacks, Ukrainian officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute former U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, prompting health authorities to launch an urgent contact-tracing operation.
Kosovo's parliament has elected economist and academic Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's new president, concluding a dramatic political process just hours before a constitutional deadline that threatened to dissolve the legislature.
The U.S. military has tightened restrictions on its personnel in Okinawa following the arrest of a Marine on suspicion of murder, a case that has reignited long-standing tensions over the American military presence on the southern Japanese island.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment