According to the New York Post, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Saturday that police are getting closer to the person they think killed UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson.
The Post says Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League Christmas party in Harlem, “The net is getting tighter.” He wouldn’t say who the subject was.
Thompson, who was 50 years old, was shot in the back around 6:45 a.m. ET (1145 GMT) on Wednesday by a masked attacker who was waiting. Thompson became CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit in April 2021.
The murder took place at the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue right before the company’s yearly investor conference.
The shooting led to a huge search for the shooter, who police say fled on foot wearing a balaclava, a hooded jacket, and a gray bag. He then got on an electric bike and rode into Central Park.
The New York Post reports that Adams wouldn’t say if police had the suspect’s name.
The mayor said, “We don’t want to give that out now.” “If you do that, you’ll be giving the person we’re looking for a tip, and we don’t want to give him any advantage at all.” Let him think that he can still hide behind the mask.
“We showed his face,” he said, referring to shots and videos from security cameras that came out after the murder. “We’ll find out who he is and punish him.”
Reports say that a backpack that looks like the one the suspect was wearing was found near a playground in Central Park. MSNBC reported on Saturday that when cops looked inside the bag, they found a jacket and Monopoly money, but no gun.
CNN reported that police divers were looking for the murder weapon in a pond in Central Park on Saturday. The story said that the police use police sources. Reuters has not checked the story on its own.
Jessica Tisch, the commissioner of police in New York City, told CNN on Friday that police have “a huge amount of evidence,” such as fingerprints, DNA evidence, and camera footage of the suspect’s movements around the city.
Friday, video showed the suspect getting into a cab that took him to a bus stop. This led New York police to say they thought the suspect had left the city.
“He walks into the Port Authority Bus Terminal on video.” “We don’t have any video of him leaving, so we think he may have taken a bus,” Joseph Kenny, Chief of Detectives for the New York Police Department, told CNN. “Those are buses that go between states.” That’s the reason we think he might have left New York City.
The New York police are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the shooter. The FBI has now added another $50,000 to the award.
Police said the attack looked like it was planned ahead of time because the gunman ignored other people on the sidewalk while waiting for Thompson, as seen on video. The shooter’s goal is still unknown.
On the security film, the shooter could be seen standing behind Thompson, raising his gun, and firing at his back. Thompson was shot in the back and leg and was declared dead at a hospital soon after the attack. He was married and had two children.
The biggest health provider in the U.S. is UnitedHealth, which covers tens of millions of people. Americans pay more for health care than people in any other country.
