NYPD releases 2 new pictures of man sought in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO : NPR

NEW YORK — They’ve seen him smiling on a hostel safety digicam, however do not know his identify. They discovered the backpack he discarded whereas fleeing, however do not know the place he is gone.

Because the seek for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer goes on, investigators are reckoning with a tantalizing dichotomy: They’ve troves of proof, however the shooter stays an enigma.

Police do not know who he’s, the place he’s, or why he did it, although they’re assured it was a focused assault as a substitute of a random act.

“The online is tightening,” New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams stated Saturday.

Hours after he spoke, police divers have been seen looking a pond in Central Park, the place the killer fled after the taking pictures. Officers have been scouring the park for days for any attainable clues and located his bag there Friday.

Late Saturday, police launched two extra pictures of the suspected shooter that seemed to be from a digicam mounted inside a taxi. The primary exhibits him exterior the automobile and the second exhibits him wanting by way of the partition between the again seat and the entrance of the cab. In each, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style masks.

Retracing the gunman’s steps utilizing surveillance video, police say, it seems he left town by bus quickly after the taking pictures Wednesday morning exterior the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny stated.

With the high-profile search increasing throughout state strains, the FBI introduced late Friday that it was providing a $50,000 reward for info resulting in an arrest and conviction, including to a reward of as much as $10,000 that the NYPD has supplied. Police say they consider the suspect acted alone.

Police supplied no updates on the hunt Saturday, however investigators are urging endurance — even with a killer on the unfastened.

Tons of of detectives are combing by way of video recordings and social media, vetting suggestions from the general public and interviewing individuals who might need info, together with Thompson’s household and coworkers and the shooter’s randomly assigned roommates on the Manhattan hostel the place he stayed.

“This is not ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to unravel this in 60 minutes,” Kenny advised reporters Friday. “We’re painstakingly going by way of each little bit of proof that we will come throughout.”

The shooter paid money on the hostel, introduced what police consider was a faux ID and is believed to have paid money for taxi rides and different transactions. He did not communicate to others on the hostel and virtually all the time stored his face lined with a masks, solely reducing it whereas consuming.

However investigators caught a break once they got here throughout safety digicam photographs of an unguarded second during which he briefly confirmed his face quickly after arriving in New York on Nov. 24.

Police distributed the photographs to information retailers and on social media however up to now have not been capable of ID him utilizing facial recognition — presumably due to the angle of the photographs or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to make use of that know-how, Kenny stated.

On Friday night, investigators discovered a backpack in Central Park that had been worn by the gunman, police stated. They did not instantly reveal what, if something, it contained however stated it will be examined and analyzed.

One other potential clue, a fingerprint on an merchandise he bought at a Starbucks minutes earlier than the taking pictures, has up to now confirmed ineffective for figuring out him, Kenny stated.

Aided by surveillance cameras on practically each constructing and block, police have been capable of retrace the shooter’s actions.

They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. as the chief arrived on the Hilton for his firm’s annual investor convention, utilizing a 9 mm pistol that resembled the weapons farmers use to place down animals with out inflicting a loud noise. They know ammunition discovered close to Thompson’s physique bore the phrases “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase utilized by insurance coverage trade critics.

Kenny stated the truth that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a convention on the lodge and what route Thompson may take to get there advised that he might presumably be a disgruntled worker or consumer.

Investigators know from surveillance video that the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle and ditched it round 7 a.m. close to eighty fifth Road.

He then walked a pair blocks and received right into a taxi, arriving at 7:30 a.m. on the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is close to the northern tip of Manhattan and affords commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.

Investigators do not know what occurred subsequent. They’re looking by way of extra surveillance video however have but to find video of the shooter getting on a bus or exiting the station.

“We’ve cause to consider that the particular person in query has left New York Metropolis,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch advised CNN on Friday.

Police have decided from video that the gunman was within the metropolis for 10 days earlier than the taking pictures. He arrived at Manhattan’s important bus terminal on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta, although it isn’t clear whether or not he embarked there or at certainly one of a couple of half-dozen stops alongside the route.

Instantly after that, he took a cab to the neighborhood of the Hilton and was there for a couple of half hour, Kenny stated.

At round 11 p.m. on the evening he arrived, he glided by taxi to the HI New York Metropolis Hostel. It was there, whereas talking with an worker within the foyer, that he briefly pulled down the masks and smiled, giving investigators the temporary glimpse they’re now counting on to establish and seize a killer.