Screenshots of private circuits of key players in the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO.
Source: New York City Police Department
Police believe the person of interest sought in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson left New York City on a bus from upper Manhattan shortly after Wednesday’s killing.
New York City Police Chief Jessica Tisch told CNN in an interview on Friday that officers wore masks Thursday because investigators wanted “a larger audience outside of New York City to see the photo.” He said he had released a photo showing the face of a person who was not seen.
Tisch said police had “an enormous amount of evidence,” including “a large amount of forensic evidence, fingerprints, DNA evidence,” and “an extensive camera canvas” that recorded the shooter’s movements throughout the city. He said that
“We have reason to believe that this was not a random act of violence, but rather a targeted attack on an individual,” Tisch said. “We released that photo yesterday. We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City, so we would appreciate it if you could share that photo with our viewers.”
New York has an extensive network of government and private surveillance cameras. Police and prosecutors have specialized teams that scrutinize surveillance video to track down suspects and match details of their faces, body features and clothing.
Surveillance footage shows a person of interest riding a bicycle from the scene of Thompson’s shooting in midtown Manhattan to Central Park on Wednesday, then riding his bike from a park near West 77th Street, NYPD officials told CNN. He was reportedly seen leaving the scene.
Police said other footage shows the person walking along West 86th Street and Columbus Avenue before heading to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Washington Heights, about eight miles north (right next to the George Washington Bridge). The video showed him getting into a taxi that was taking him to the hospital.
The man then entered the bus terminal, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney said.
“Those buses are interstate buses,” Kenney told CNN. “That’s why we believe he may have left
New York City. ”
Kenney said police are investigating which bus the man took.
“We have footage of him entering the Port Authority bus terminal. We don’t have footage of him exiting, so we think he may have boarded a bus,” Kenney said.
In addition to westbound buses, the terminal also operates shuttle vans that carry passengers across the George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River to Fort Lee, New Jersey, and points further west.
Law enforcement officials said Thursday that the unidentified suspect in the Thompson shooting traveled from Atlanta on a Greyhound bus and arrived in Manhattan on Nov. 24.
That was two days before UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, announced it would hold an Investor Day on Dec. 4 at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown.
Thompson, 50, was shot by a gunman wearing a mask and neck gaiter over his face as he tried to enter the Hilton.
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