NEW YORK – New York City Police Department divers searched the lake in Central Park on Saturday afternoon. Sources tell CBS News New York they were looking for the weapon used the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this week outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
The search came a day later Police found a backpack in Central Parkwhich law enforcement officials say they believe belongs the suspected shooter. Sources told CBS News New York that the backpack contained a jacket, but that was not the case the gun Police believe it was used in the crime. The backpack is now being analyzed at an NYPD forensic lab for possible hair and DNA samples, sources say.
A backpack found in New York City’s Central Park on December 6, 2024, that investigators believe belonged to the suspected gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. / Credit: CBS News
Sources said divers searched the lake around 3:30 pm on Saturday. The Citizen app video shows police tape at the south end of the lake in Central Park, in the same area where the backpack was found. Park visitors said they did not see officers leave with anything after the dive.
“This corner doesn’t look like a large area, but this corner was cordoned off with probably five police officers and a van, and then we saw scuba gear and a couple of divers getting in, just kind of splashing around, just looking around this area,” said a witness named Charlotte D..
Police are closing in on a person of interest in the shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, the mayor says
Mayor Eric Adams, speaking to reporters Saturday at a Police Athletic League event in Harlem, said police are getting closer to finding the person of interest who had it been stay in a hostel on the Upper West Side and was caught on camera without his mask on.
Newly released surveillance photos show a person police say they want to question after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Wednesday. /Credit: NYPD
Adams also said police know the name of the suspected shooter but are not sharing it publicly.
“We don’t want to release that now. If you do, you’re essentially tipping the person… we’re looking, and we don’t want to give them the upper hand at all. Let him continue with I believe he can hide behind the mask,” Adams said.
According to the police the person in question was seen on camera entering the Port Authority bus terminal in Washington Heights after the shooting Wednesday morning and has now likely left town.
The investigation is ongoing.
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