NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #3

[Herat]

Your theory makes a lot of sense.

And it makes a case that it is somehow tied to the ransomeware scam, and the payment.

Modern day Ted Kaczynski

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Police believe person of interest in CEO shooting has left New York City​

From CNN's Elise Hammond
Investigators have a “reason to believe” the person of interest in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO has left New York City, according to police commissioner Jessica Tisch.

She told CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz that police released photos of the person not wearing a mask on Thursday because they want a “wider audience to see the picture outside of New York City.”

This is the first interview with top police officials since the shooting happened.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said officers are conducting a “very very extensive video canvas.” They are reviewing footage from around the Hilton hotel, where the shooting occurred, to uptown Manhattan.

He said the suspected gunman rode on a bike from the shooting scene to Central Park. The person then exited the park around 77th Street, still with the bike, Kenny said. Footage later shows him walking at 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, according to Kenny, before he gets in a cab that takes him to a Port Authority bus center near 178th Street and Broadway.

“Those buses are interstate buses. That’s why we believe he may have left New York City,” he said, adding that police are working to figure out which bus the person may have gotten on.

This post has been updated with additional details from Kenny.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brian-thompson-unitedhealthcare-news-12-6-24/index.html

Footage shows the suspect walking at 86th Street and Columbus Avenue -- he was captured on CCTV riding a bike on 85th Street off Central Park West, so he must have ditched the bike at some point in the 1.5 blocks between where the CCTV footage and where he hailed a cab.

 

[armchairagatha]

Police believe person of interest in CEO shooting has left New York City​

From CNN's Elise Hammond
Investigators have a “reason to believe” the person of interest in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO has left New York City, according to police commissioner Jessica Tisch.

She told CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz that police released photos of the person not wearing a mask on Thursday because they want a “wider audience to see the picture outside of New York City.”

This is the first interview with top police officials since the shooting happened.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said officers are conducting a “very very extensive video canvas.” They are reviewing footage from around the Hilton hotel, where the shooting occurred, to uptown Manhattan.

He said the suspected gunman rode on a bike from the shooting scene to Central Park. The person then exited the park around 77th Street, still with the bike, Kenny said. Footage later shows him walking at 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, according to Kenny, before he gets in a cab that takes him to a Port Authority bus center near 178th Street and Broadway.

“Those buses are interstate buses. That’s why we believe he may have left New York City,” he said, adding that police are working to figure out which bus the person may have gotten on.

This post has been updated with additional details from Kenny.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brian-thompson-unitedhealthcare-news-12-6-24/index.html

So he got back on a bus, same as how he came in. Probably a good bet that it was a bus back to Atlanta (or a stop along the way). What did he do once he got there? Took a flight out of the country?

 

[ElizaKate]

Yeah much smaller area to search than previously thought with the W 86th exit!

And makes more sense as a route if he was heading straight back to the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

<EDITED - ignore more details of his route out have emerged!>

 

[SleuthJan]

So he got back on a bus, same as how he came in. Probably a good bet that it was a bus back to Atlanta (or a stop along the way). What did he do once he got there? Took a flight out of the country?

Exactly. This is what I think.

No one has come forward to recognize him in the US. Jmo

 

[shetalksinstereo]

What specific about how he carrys himself.

Why not fly in closer? Why all the way to Atlanta?. Shoot, even DC would work.

I think he didn't fly because he had the gun with him.

 

[bestill]

Of course he has left New York City! NYC and the country. Jmoo.

Agree with this. He's long gone, imo.

 

[Universecalling]

I would assume they knew this yesterday, but are just releasing this info today.

Yes, but someone up thread said they are now narrowing the search area and actively searching. Sounded like it’s happening today/now.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Atlanta PD is now assisting in the investigation, according to CNN. IIRC yesterday Atlanta PD said they had not been asked to assist.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brian-thompson-unitedhealthcare-news-12-6-24#cm4d6epln00003b6mft5plqua

<snipped>
The Atlanta Police Department confirmed Friday that it is working with the NYPD as part of the investigation into the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

 

[shetalksinstereo]

I wonder if anyone has looked at photographers/media staff/social media accounts covering UHC stories recently? Just thinking out loud about the backpack being favored by photographers.

 

[scoodyboo]

In this video of him allegedly leaving the F strain station before the shooting, doesn't it look like the backback hangs differently than in the image of it at the Starbucks and at the shooting? It looks more criss-cross to me in the first image than the more aligned with shoulders in the other two. Each screenshot is from the linked video.

 

[MassGuy]

Photo of person of interest with the mask down was the “money shot,” police commissioner says​

From CNN's Elise Hammond
New York City Police had to sift through a substantial amount of video surveillance footage to obtain an image of the person of interest in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson without a mask.

“He’s been traveling and walking around the streets of New York City largely in a mask, with his face covered. We had to go through lots of video evidence to get that one money shot with the mask down,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

The image, released by police on Thursday, shows the person at a hostel on New York’s Upper West Side where he had been staying, a law enforcement official previously told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brian-thompson-unitedhealthcare-news-12-6-24/index.html

 

[Oakland CA]

dropping a phone by accident makes no sense to me.

So everyone that ever dropped their phone did it intentionally?

 

[eddie_van]

So he got back on a bus, same as how he came in. Probably a good bet that it was a bus back to Atlanta (or a stop along the way). What did he do once he got there? Took a flight out of the country?

It's like a chase. He has to get somewhere safe before all this surveillance catches up with him. The police will probably soon figure out what bus he took. Which means if he is still on that bus he's going to be caught. So I would imagine he gets off pretty quickly.

 

[Hair of the Dog]

IMO the killer could have come from anywhere in the US traveling via multiple buses quite anonymously. I think he brought the gun with him into NY. It could have been bought at a gun show, stolen from a collector or a veterinarian, who might work at a horse racing track (my dog's vet used to). Guns are commonly stolen items in home burglaries and veterinarian's offices are sometimes broken into by people seeking drugs who will usually steal anything else they come across in the process.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I think he does too. If you look closely at the video from West 85th, it looks like it's a near-empty black backpack on his back. Which means it's not likely the other one is shoved in there, but who knows. It's not close/clear enough to really see.

i would lthink that LE could focus in very close to determine if there is still a backpack on the shooter.

 

[indicolite22]

Exactly. This is what I think.

No one has come forward to recognize him in the US. Jmo

The hostel staff would remember if he had a foreign accent, too. Did he spend the last night at the hostel? Did he check out? Did he have any luggage, apart from the light colored backpack?

 

[Jinkasaurus]

In this video of him allegedly leaving the F strain station before the shooting, doesn't it look like the backback hangs differently than in the image of it at the Starbucks and at the shooting? It looks more criss-cross to me in the first image than the more aligned with shoulders in the other two. Each screenshot is from the linked video.
View attachment 549705

View attachment 549703View attachment 549704

I noticed this about the gray backpack as well. I wonder if that first picture is of someone else entirely, as like you said, the two backpacks are a completely different style.

It could change things if the photo of him leaving the F train station was not him. I don't know why the media has not noticed the difference between the straps and shape of the gray backpacks in these photos. Its very distinct.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Someone mentioned above that the sighting coming out of the 57th street subway station is also strange, since that station only serves the F train, which doesn't go anywhere near where he supposedly was staying.

6:15 a.m.​

At 6:15 a.m., surveillance footage reviewed by police shows someone who appears to be the suspect leaving a 57th Street subway station near the crime scene, police sources told ABC News.

UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect's timeline before, during, after the brazen murder

The man charged with murder for gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arrested and charged after the shooting outside a Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

abcnews.go.com

Right...that was posted very early this am, I believe.
But, didn't someone else note, that the shooter might have only entered that subway stop for a rest or to get out of the cold, and more likely, did NOT ride any train??

 

[x_files]

What is perplexing to me is that my husband and other executives always planned to meet up in the lobby at a certain time. Their CEO never traveled alone.

Could BT have received a call asking him to come to the Hilton earlier than expected? Surely, police have that information and have searched BT's phone to determine if he was called and by whom that morning. Still, my husband's CEO would call others to get them to go with him (if possible).

Even at that, to me, it seems the killer would need to be alerted. That's why I think that there was more than one involved in this assassination. I also think that this guy (and possibly another person) were hired. They don't have to be professional assassins to be hired to do a specific hit.

JMO.

Maybe BT often traveled, and walked alone so this wasn't out of the norm for him. His family and co-workers may know.