The gunman who killed the CEO of America’s largest health insurer likely left New York City shortly after the brutal ambush that shook corporate America, police officials said. But he left something behind: a backpack that was discovered in Central Park.
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Nearly four days after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, police still did not know the gunman’s name or whereabouts, nor did police have a motive for the killing. Investigators were looking into whether the gunman might have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
The FBI announced Friday evening that it is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Video of the gunman fleeing Wednesday’s shooting showed him riding a bicycle into Central Park and later taking a taxi to a bus station that offers shuttles to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C., Kenny said.
Police have video of the man entering the bus station but no video of him exiting, leading them to believe he left town, Kenny said.
Investigators found a backpack in the park on Friday that the gunman had worn during the shooting, police said, after a massive search to find him in a vast area of lakes and ponds, meadows, playgrounds and forests.
Police did not immediately reveal what it contained but said it would be analyzed for clues.
The gunman took care to conceal his identity with a mask for almost all of his time in the city, including during the attack and while he ate, but still left a trail of evidence in plain sight of the nation’s largest city and its network of security cameras.
The gunman arrived in New York City on November 24 and shot Thompson 10 days later outside his company’s annual investor conference at a hotel just blocks from Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center.
The gunman got off a bus leaving from Atlanta and made several stops along the way, Kenny said. Police have not determined where he boarded the bus. Investigators have a list of passengers, but none would have to show identification when they boarded, Kenny said.
Investigators believe the suspect used a fake ID and paid in cash, Kenny said, as he checked into the hostel, which has a cafe and shared and private rooms and is steps from Columbia University.
Investigators tested a discarded water bottle and a protein bar wrapper in a hunt for his DNA. They also attempted to obtain additional information from a cell phone found along the gunman’s escape route.
Photos of the suspected gunman, taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, appear to be from the only time he removed his mask, Kenny said. The footage shows a smiling man in the lobby of the HI New York City hostel. They are part of a collection of photos and videos that have circulated since the shooting — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspected shooter in a Starbucks beforehand.
“From every indication we have from witnesses, from the Starbucks, from the hostel, he kept his mask on at all times, except for the one instance where we had him photographed with the mask off,” Kenny said.
His roommates at the hostel also said he had not spoken to them. During a search of the suspected shooter’s hotel room, nothing of investigative value was found.
When asked how close he thought police were to making an arrest, Kenny said, “This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes. We’re meticulously sifting through every piece of evidence we can find. Ultimately, if an arrest is made, we will have to present all of these facts to a judge and jury, so we will take our time, do it right and make sure we get justice for this victim and closure to the case. his family.”
Surveillance video of the shooting shows the killer approaching Thompson from behind, firing several shots from a pistol equipped with a silencer, barely pausing to clear a jam as the director falls to the sidewalk.
Police were investigating the possibility that the weapon was a veterinary handgun, a weapon often used on farms and ranches when an animal needs to be quietly euthanized, Kenny said — although he emphasized that this had not yet been confirmed.
The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, one word on each of the three bullets, Kenny said. A law enforcement official previously told The Associated Press that the words were “deny,” “defend” and “impeach.” The messages echo the phrase “delay, deny, defend,” often used by attorneys and critics about insurers delaying payments, denying claims and defending their actions.
Thompson, the father of two sons who lived in suburban Minneapolis, had worked at Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years.
The insurer’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., held its annual meeting in New York for investors. The company abruptly ended the conference after Thompson’s death.
UnitedHealth Group said it was focused on supporting Thompson’s family, ensuring employee safety and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we are touched by the tremendous outpouring,” the company said.
UnitedHealthcare provides coverage to more than 49 million Americans. It administers employer health insurance and state and federally funded Medicaid programs.
In October, UnitedHealthcare, along with Humana and CVS, was named in a Senate report detailing how the prior authorization denial rate for some Medicare Advantage patients has soared in recent years.
The shooting has particularly rocked the health insurance industry, causing companies to reevaluate their security plans and remove photos of executives from their websites. Another Minnesota-based health care company said Friday it was temporarily closing its offices out of an abundance of caution and telling employees to work from home.
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