NEW YORK — The NYPD again searched the lake in Central Park on Sunday in hopes of finding related evidence last week’s murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan.
As the manhunt for the gunman continues, officials said Sunday they are narrowing their search.
NYPD Crime Stoppers
The latest released images of the person of interest police are looking for shows him in the backseat of a taxi, still wearing his mask, and another shows him just outside the taxi. The FBI has released a poster offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“The net is tightening and we are going to bring this person to justice,” Mayor Eric Adams said.
NYPD divers return to Central Park Lake on Sunday
NYPD divers searched Central Park’s lake on Sunday after sources told CBS News New York that Saturday’s search was unsuccessful.
A woman told CBS News New York that she saw the dive teams in the lake on Saturday, but did not see them come out with anything.
“This corner was cordoned off with probably five police officers, a van and we saw scuba gear and a couple of divers getting in, just splashing around, looking around this area,” the witness said.
Researchers found the suspect’s backpack containing a jacket in the park on Friday. That area is still cordoned off with police tape.
Forensic test results from the backpack must still come in before it can be determined whether it is linked to the gunman, who shot Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday.
Law enforcement knows the name of the person of interest
The mayor said on Saturday that the police know who they are looking for, but do not want to tip him off by revealing his name prematurely.
‘We don’t want to release that now. If you do, you’re essentially tipping the person we’re looking for… that we’re looking for, and we don’t want to give them the upper hand at all. He continues to believe he can hide behind the mask,” Adams said.
The only images believed to be of the person in question without a mask were captured on surveillance cameras from an Upper West Side hostelwhere police sources say he had a flirtatious encounter with the front desk clerk.
Police sources say investigators from the NYPD and the US Marshals Service have been dispatched to Atlanta and stops along the Greyhound bus route between Atlanta and New York City. They want to know where the suspect boarded the bus that took him to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Nov. 24, and are investigating the Greyhound terminals and reviewing surveillance footage in an effort to determine the point at which he boarded the bus .
