The police believe the man who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Manhattan has left New York City. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch shared with CNN that investigators now think the suspect might be outside the city.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny mentioned that after leaving Central Park, the suspect was seen on surveillance cameras walking near 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, which is over 30 blocks north of the shooting location. According to Kenny, the unidentified suspect then hopped into a taxi that took him to a bus terminal on 178th Street and Broadway.
“Those buses are interstate buses,” Kenny noted, explaining why they think he may have exited the city. The police are currently trying to trace which bus the suspect might have boarded.
Earlier reports indicated that the suspect had arrived in New York on a bus from Atlanta about 10 days before the incident, although it remains unclear where he actually got on. A security camera image from a hostel on the Upper West Side shows the suspect without a mask before the shooting.
Surveillance footage from the scene captured the moment the hooded suspect fired a gun at Thompson, who fell to the ground. Following the shooting, he was seen escaping on a bike and headed into Central Park.
The incident took place around 6:45 a.m. on December 4, outside the New York Hilton Midtown. Authorities reported that the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” were found on shell casings left at the scene.
