NEW YORK (AFP) – New York police said on Friday they believe the man suspected of gunning down a top health insurance executive may have fled the city on a bus following the brazen daylight murder.
The development deepens the mystery surrounding the fresh-faced suspect, an image of whom was released by investigators on Thursday and who has now been on the run for almost three days.
The masked assailant was caught on camera entering a bus station in a northern neighbourhood of Manhattan in the wake of Wednesday’s slaying, but he could not be identified exiting the facility on foot, a police spokesman confirmed to AFP.
“They believe he’s not in New York City,” the spokesman added.
Dozens of bus and coach routes run to other states in the United States (US) from the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, according to the operator’s website.
The image of the smiling suspect was obtained from a youth hostel where the gunman apparently stayed before the hit, detectives said, with media reporting he lowered his mask to flirt with a receptionist.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Friday that detectives had access to tens of thousands of cameras around the city, allowing them to secure the “money shot” image, a significant breakthrough in the case.
“We had to go through lots of video evidence to get that one money shot with the mask down,” she told CNN.
