NEW YORK – The New York City Police Department has released two new photos of the person in question wanted for questioning the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton Midtown hotel in Manhattan.
One photo released Saturday shows the person in question in the back of a taxi, and another shows him walking on the sidewalk outside a vehicle. In both cases he is wearing a mask and a hood.
NYPD Crime Stoppers
NYPD Crime Stoppers
NYPD divers search Central Park lake
Earlier that afternoon, NYPD divers were seen searching the lake in Central Park. Sources tell CBS News New York they were searching for the gun used in the fatal shooting.
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.
CBS News
Sources said investigators, including 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.
“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..
Sources told CBS News New York that the search was unsuccessful. Police returned to Central Park Lake on Sunday to continue the search.
Police are closing in on a person of interest in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO, the mayor says
Mayor Eric Adams, speaking to reporters Saturday at a Police Athletic League event in Harlem, said “the net is tightening” as police move 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 a mask during what sources say was a flirtatious moment with an employee.
N.Y.P.D
“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 when asked to identify the person in question.
Police have named the person of interest left his Upper West Side hostel around 5:30 a.m. Wednesdayand arrived at the Midtown Hilton just 11 minutes later. They say he placed an order at Starbucks around 6:17 a.m. before spotting Thompson and pulling the trigger at 6:46 a.m.
According to police, he then rode his bicycle to Central Park before grabbing a taxi, getting out and then taking another taxi to Washington Heights, where he was. seen on camera entering the Port Authority bus station. The police believe he left town shortly afterwards.
The investigation is ongoing. The FBI is now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
contributed to this report.
