By Rich McKay and Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – New York police believe the man who fatally shot a top UnitedHealth executive has left the city, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Friday, as the hunt for the shooter passed a crucial milestone of 48 hours.
Brian Thompson, 50, CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, was shot in the back Wednesday in what police described as a targeted attack. Police released several photos of the suspect – who fled the scene, got on an electric bike and disappeared into Central Park – and asked the public for help finding him.
Police recovered what they believe to be the suspect's backpack in Central Park on Friday, CNN reported Friday, citing unnamed police sources. The abandoned backpack, potentially laden with evidence, was missed on an initial pass but found during a subsequent extensive search of the 843-acre (341-hectare) park, CNN said.
Tisch said in an interview with CNN on Friday that authorities now believe he had left New York, after a new video surfaced showing him arriving at the city's main bus terminal.
New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in the same interview that the video shows the suspect getting into a taxi that took him to the Port Authority bus station.
“We have video of him entering the Port Authority bus terminal. We don't have any video of him leaving, so we believe he may have gotten on a bus,” Kenny said. “These buses are interstate buses. That's why we think he may have left New York.”
The expanded hunt comes after security experts warned that the 48 hours following such a crime is the best window of opportunity to arrest a shooter, a time frame that has now passed.
“Time is of the essence,” said Felipe Rodriguez, a former New York City police detective and assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Rodriguez said solving the case was like putting together a difficult puzzle.
“You start with the outlines and work your way out, but right now they may not have all the pieces. But the thing is moving forward,” he said.
PHOTOS AND CLUES
Police believe the suspect arrived in New York ten days before the shooting aboard a Greyhound bus from Atlanta and checked into a Manhattan hostel using a fake New York ID. Jersey, several media reported. Reuters has not independently verified this account.
Police have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer in the United States, providing benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for their health care than people in any other country.
Thompson joined UnitedHealth in 2004 and became CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:), in April 2021.
Following the attack, UnitedHealth and several other health insurers, including CVS Health (NYSE:) and Hundreds (NYSE:) has removed photos of executives from their corporate websites in an apparent tightening of security measures.
Centene said Thursday evening that it would no longer hold an in-person investor day next week and that the event would be streamed.
The words “deny”, “defend” and “depose” were engraved on shell casings found at the scene, police sources told several media outlets. A New York City police spokesperson declined to comment on this information.
These words evoke the title of Jay Feinman's 2010 book criticizing the insurance industry, “Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
Feinman, professor emeritus at Rutgers University Law School, declined to comment.
Detectives believe the attacker was experienced in handling firearms, due to the way he fired slowly and deliberately, CNN reported, citing law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was underway.
Security video showed the shooter, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, ski mask and gray backpack, walking behind Thompson, raising his silencer-equipped handgun and firing into his back. Police said the shooter arrived outside the hotel several minutes before Thompson and waited for him to pass before shooting, ignoring other bystanders.
Before the backpack report, CNN, whose reporter John Miller is a former deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, said police had found a phone in an alley the shooter ran through and also recovered a bottle of water that the shooter had purchased a few minutes before the attack.
A fingerprint on the water bottle was too smudged to provide any other clues about the shooter, the New York Times (NYSE:), citing a senior law enforcement official.
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