NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — The New York Police Department (NYPD) has released photos showing a "person of interest" in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson unmasked.
A post on the NYPD News X (Twitter) channel shows a young man in a hooded coat standing at a counter with no mask, and asks anyone who recognizes him to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). There is a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
CNN geolocated the two images to a hostel on New York City's Upper West Side. Police earlier searched the hostel, where they believe the suspect may have been staying. Employees recalled a man wearing a hooded jacket identical to the suspected shooter’s who almost never lowered his mask or hood. Police are calling the man a person of interest until they can identify him and confirm or eliminate him as a suspect.
The pictures posted Thursday are just the latest development suggesting that investigators are making strides in identifying the person who shot Thompson in cold blood as he walked to a meeting of investors in midtown Manhattan.
Also Thursday, reports revealed that shell casings found on the scene where Thompson was targeted had words written on them, according to a high-ranking New York City law enforcement source.
That source told NBC News early Thursday that shells found on the sidewalk of 54th Street in front of the Hilton Garden Hotel were adorned with the words "deny," "defend" and "depose." At this point it is unclear what the development might mean to the investigation or if it actually might shed light on the motive for Thompson's slaying.
NBC is also reporting that the suspect purchased a water bottle and two protein bars from a nearby Starbucks before the shooting and then discarded the items, according to a senior New York City law enforcement source. Investigators recovered surveillance video showing where the suspect discarded the items, and they are currently being tested for DNA or fingerprints that could identify the shooter.
Thompson, a resident of Maple Grove and leader of UnitedHealth's insurance arm, was in New York City for an investor meeting when he was gunned down while walking in midtown Manhattan early Wednesday. Surveillance video shows the shooter - a white man wearing a light brown or cream-colored jacket, a black mask, black and white sneakers, and a distinctive gray backpack - arriving on the scene approximately five minutes before Thompson walked up at 6:44 a.m.
The video captures the man calmly approaching Thompson as he walked past, leveling a handgun fitted with a suppressor and shooting the CEO in the back. The man continues firing, stopping when his gun appears to jam, then clearing the obstruction and firing more shots. Police say he walked from the shooting scene, jumped on an e-bike and escaped.
Police say the last sighting of the shooter was in Central Park, just blocks from where Thompson was stalked and killed. Investigators also recovered surveillance images that give a better glimpse at the shooter.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney told reporters Wednesday that his investigators are searching both for the suspect and a motive for the killing. Thompson's wife Paulette told NBC that he had been receiving threats of a nature she did not specify.
"Yes, there had been some threats basically I don't know, a lack of coverage? I don't know details," Paulette Thompson told MSNBC. "I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him."
Kenney said despite reports of threats against him, Thompson did not travel with a security detail.
“Speaking to other employees that traveled with him to New York, it doesn’t seem like he had a security detail,” Kenney told reporters Wednesday. “He left the hotel by himself, was walking, didn’t seem like he had any issues at at all.”
At this time it is unclear whether the words written on the shell casings found at the scene are linked to those alleged threats.
In another development, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) confirmed for KARE 11 that the agency and other local law enforcement agencies have offered assistance to NYPD as Thompson lived in Maple Grove and worked at UnitedHealthcare's facility in Minnetonka.