The New York City Police Department (NYPD) released new photos of a man who is wanted for questioning in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, as no suspect has been named yet.
Two new photos of the individual wanted for questioning show the man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a blue medical-style mask commonly used during the COVID-19 pandemic. One was taken from what appears to be a taxi cab, and the other was captured outside the vehicle, the photos show.
“The full investigative efforts of the NYPD are continuing, and we are asking for the public’s help—if you have any information about this case, call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS,” the police department wrote on social media platform X early on Dec. 8.
It noted that the reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction is still available. The FBI also said in a Dec. 7 statement that it would be offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the suspect in Thompson’s shooting death, which the NYPD’s top officials described last week as “brazen” and “targeted.”
Aside from the two photos released on Dec. 8, the NYPD has not offered any new details about the investigation since Dec. 6, when NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN that officials believe that the suspect left New York City. Her chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, told the outlet that evidence shows that the suspect had traveled in a taxi cab to a Port Authority bus station in Manhattan and likely took a bus away from the city.
The NYPD has released several other photos of the suspect, including one with his mask off, along with video footage of the shooting itself since the incident occurred on Dec. 4 in front of a Midtown Manhattan Hilton hotel before a UnitedHealthcare conference. Thompson was CEO of the company, a subsidiary of United Health Group Inc.
Detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public, and interviewing people who might have information, including Thompson’s family and coworkers and the shooter’s randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed, Kenny said last week.
“This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes,” he told reporters on Dec. 6, referring to a popular police drama set in New York City. “We’re painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across.”
On the evening of Dec. 6, investigators found a backpack in Central Park that had been worn by the gunman, police stated. They didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but stated that it would be tested and analyzed.
Another potential clue, a fingerprint on an item he purchased at a Starbucks minutes before the shooting, has so far proven useless for identifying him, according to Kenny.
He noted that the fact that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a conference at the hotel and what route Thompson might take to get there suggested that he might be a disgruntled employee or a former client.
Police have determined from video footage that the gunman was in the city for 10 days before the shooting, Kenny also said. He arrived at Manhattan’s main bus terminal on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta, although it’s not clear whether he embarked there or at one of about a half-dozen stops along the route.
Immediately after that, he took a cab to the vicinity of the Hilton and was there for about a half hour, the chief of detectives said.
After the shooting, the suspect is believed to have fled on foot before taking a bike to Central Park, officials said. He then walked several blocks and entered a taxi and arrived at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station operated by Port Authority, which provides bus service to New Jersey as well as Greyhound bus routes to cities including Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston, according to Kenny.
Investigators don’t know what happened next, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article was originally published by The Epoch Times.
