UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting manhunt widens beyond New York City as police find backpack believed to be suspect’s
A person of interest is wanted for questioning fatal shot CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson He is believed to have left New York City, police said Friday. Meanwhile, investigators found a backpack believed to be that of the suspected shooter in Central Park, law enforcement officials told CBS News.
Officials told CBS News it’s unclear what was in the backpack. The NYPD said it was analyzing the backpack to determine whether it belonged to the suspect, who is believed to have abandoned the backpack in Central Park while fleeing Wednesday’s shooting in downtown Manhattan.
CBS News obtained photos of the backpack from the New York Police Department on Friday night.
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Police have not yet released the names of suspects in the investigation, but investigators are looking for a suspect in connection with the case. A source familiar with the matter told CBS News the suspect may have boarded a bus bound for Atlanta at the Manhattan bus terminal. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney told reporters Friday that investigators don’t know what bus the man may have been on.
“We put him in a taxi and the taxi took him to 178th Street and Broadway, which we understand is the Port Authority Bus Center,” Kenney told CNN. “These buses are interstate buses. That’s why We believe he may have left New York City.”
The Atlanta Police Department said they have been contacted by the New York Police Department and will provide necessary assistance as the manhunt now expands beyond New York City. Investigators are following leads in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Senior officials told CBS News that the NYPD has requested assistance from approximately 80 major police departments across the United States in the case.
The FBI is also assisting the New York Police Department in the investigation. $50,000 reward announced Friday night for information leading to an arrest in the case.
A person familiar with the investigation said the suspect was on a bus from Atlanta to New York days before the shooting. Confirmed Thursday on CBS News. It’s unclear when the suspect got on the bus, whether in Atlanta or at other stops along the way.
While the man was in New York City, he used a fake ID and a false name to check into the New York City Youth Hostel, a hostel on Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, according to a law enforcement official. Knowledge of investigations. Police believe the name on the ID is made up and does not belong to anyone else, the official said.
The NYPD shared two photos Thursday showing the man at the hotel. They did not reveal when the photo was taken.
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this Photo taken He took off his mask as he spoke to a woman at the front desk. New York police interviewed the woman, who told officers she asked “to see his beautiful smile,” a senior source said told CBS News New York.
“They were having a flirtatious moment and he pulled it off and had a big smile, an informal moment between the two men that remains the basis for the entire case,” said former NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller. The most important clue yet.” Intelligence and Counterterrorism Commissioner.
Kenney told reporters that surveillance video showed the suspect arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in downtown Manhattan between 10 and 11 p.m. on November 24.
Police identified him through surveillance video of him walking through the terminal, police sources with direct knowledge of the investigation previously told CBS News. The video was used to track him to a Greyhound bus.
He took a taxi from the Port Authority to a hotel near the Hilton City Center hotel — the same hotel where Thompson was shot and killed on Dec. 4 — and stayed there for about 30 minutes. Kenny said he then took a cab to the hotel. Kenney said he checked out briefly on Nov. 29 but then checked in again on Nov. 30.
Bus passengers who pay cash for their tickets do not need to present a valid ID. Port Authority police are working with Greyhound to determine if the suspect provided identification at any time, and they are investigating when he purchased a ticket between Atlanta and New York.
