Authorities have identified the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson and are being prosecuted, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday. New York Post. “The net is getting tighter,” Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League holiday party in Harlem, according to the Post. He declined to name the suspect.
Thompson, 50, who became CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit in April 2021, was shot in the back at 6:45 a.m. ET (1145 GMT) on Wednesday in what police described as a targeted attack by a masked assailant lying in wait.
The killing took place before the company’s annual investor conference at the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue.
The shooting sparked a massive manhunt for the gunman, who fled on foot before riding an electric bike into Central Park wearing a hooded jacket, balaclava and brown backpack, police said.
Adams was quoted by the Post as saying that police are withholding the suspect’s name for now to deny him any leverage.
“We don’t want to release it now,” the mayor said. “If you do, you’re basically tipping off the person we’re looking for and we don’t want to give him any upper hand. Continue to believe he can hide behind a mask.”
“We revealed her face,” he said, referring to security camera photos and video released after the murder. “We will reveal who he is and we are going to bring him to justice.” New York police said Friday they believe the suspect has left New York City, after video emerged showing him getting into a taxi that took him to a bus station.
“We have video of the Port Authority entering the bus terminal. We don’t have any video of him getting out so we believe he may have gotten on the bus,” said New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney. CNN. “Those buses are interstate buses. So we believe he may have left New York City.
The circumstances of the attack suggested it was premeditated and planned, police said, adding that video showed the gunman ignoring other pedestrians as he waited for Thompson. The motive of the shooter has not yet been revealed.
Security video shows Thompson shooting in the back, raising his handgun and firing from behind. Thompson, a married father of two, was shot in the back and leg and was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after the attack.
UnitedHealth is America’s largest health insurance company, providing benefits to hundreds of millions of Americans who pay more for health care than people in any other country.