NEW YORK (AP) – Investigators are searching for clues that could help them identify the masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest United States (US) health insurance companies on a Manhattan sidewalk, then disappeared into Central Park.
UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Officer Brian Thompson, 50, died in a dawn ambush on Wednesday as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference at a Hilton in Midtown, blocks from tourist draws like Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art.
The killing, and the shooter’s movements in the minutes before and afterward, were captured on some of the multitudes of security cameras present in that part of the city.
One video showed him approach Thompson from behind, level his pistol and fire several shots, barely pausing to clear a brief gun jam while the dying health executive tumbled to the pavement.
Other security cameras captured the initial stages of the gunman’s escape. He was seen fleeing the block across a pedestrian plaza, then escaping on a bicycle into Central Park, where he vanished.
Police used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intense search, but the killer’s whereabouts remained unknown late into the night.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that while investigators had not yet established a motive, the shooting was no random act of violence.
“Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target,” Tisch said at a news conference.
“From watching the video, it does seem that he’s proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Police issued several surveillance images of the man, who wore a hooded jacket and a mask that concealed most of his face and wouldn’t have attracted attention on a frigid winter day. Some of the photos were taken at a coffee shop shortly before the shooting.
The police department offered a reward of up to USD10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the insurer’s Minnetonka, Minnesota-based parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc, said in a statement. “We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.” Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he told her “there were some people that had been threatening him”. She didn’t have details but suggested the threats may have involved issues with insurance coverage.
The police chief in the Minneapolis suburb where Thompson lived Eric Werner said his department had not received any reports of threats against the executive.
Investigators recovered several nine millimetre shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled. They were also searching Thompson’s hotel room, interviewing his UnitedHealthcare colleagues and reviewing his social media, Kenny said.
Police initially said the shooter rode into Central Park on a bicycle from the city’s bike-share programme, CitiBike. But a spokesperson for the programme’s operator, Lyft, said police officials informed the company that the bike was not from the CitiBike fleet.
