A shooter remains at large Saturday, four days after killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown NYC on Wednesday morning.
This live blog has ended. Read on for a recap of this developing story.
“The net is tightening,” the mayor told reporters at a Police Athletic League holiday party in Harlem.
Authorities are closing in on the suspect who assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan, Mayor Adams said Saturday. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
The FBI had joined the investigation into the brazen murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside of a luxury Manhattan hotel, the bureau confirmed Friday.
The manhunt for the assassin who killed Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown has expanded beyond the five boroughs and perhaps the tri-state area as the NYPD announced that they believe the suspect has left the Big Apple.
“The FBI is assisting the NYPD with the investigation,” a bureau spokesperson said.
The FBI put out a wanted poster Friday night of surveillance images of the suspect previously released by the NYPD and are offering up to a $50,000 award for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said during a media blitz earlier Friday that the suspect was seen near the Port Authority bus center on West 178th street about an hour after the Wednesday morning shooting.
“Those buses are interstate,” Kenny said “That’s why we believe he may have left New York City.”
The assassin was spotted at a Starbucks. DCPI
“We have video of him entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal. We don’t have any video of him exiting so we believe he may have gotten on a bus.”
The suspect’s face can be seen in security camera footage obtained from an Upper West Side hostel where believe he stayed before the shooting.
The brazen killer was also seen at a Starbucks, where he purchased coffee, water, and protein bars, police and sources have said.
The NYPD says it recovered a water bottle believed to have been dropped by the masked gunman as he fled from the shooting.
The water bottle, along with a coffee cup possibly used by the gunman, were recovered by police and are being tested for DNA evidence.
NYPD investigators found a backpack in Central Park that could be the one ditched by the assassin who gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, cops and sources said.
The bag was recovered by police south of the carousel near Ramsey playground and matches the description of the gray backpack worn by the shooter, sources said.
The backpack believed to belong to the shooter was found in Central Park. Obtained by NY Post
The gray bag was found in Central Park.
The bag worn by Thompson's killer was described by NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny as "very distinctive," in a Friday press briefing.
"It is huge and gray” Kenny added.
Investigators did not open the bag and sent it straight to the lab for testing, police sources told The Post.
UnitedHealth Group’s Minneapolis operation has strengthened its security after the tragic death of the company’s CEO Brian Thompson.
“The physical security to come onto campus has changed so that you can no longer get to a parking garage without going through a security screen,” CEO Andrew Witty revealed during a leaked video conference between himself and employees.
REUTERS
“You’ll [also] see that perimeter protection gets strengthened as time goes by.” It comes after Thompson — who hailed from Minnesota — was shot to death Wednesday outside the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, where the company was hosting an investor day.
The early morning assassination in busy Midtown Manhattan has sparked panic across the business world, with phones "ringing off the hook" at corporate security companies.
UnitedHealth Group CEO has slammed commentary about top exec Brian Thompson’s assassination as “vitriolic” and “disturbing” in leaked footage of a video conference with employees on Friday.
Andrew Witty added that any employee approached by media should refer them to the company’s communications group, according to video posted on X by conservative podcast host Steven Crowder.
“Unfortunately, in a situation like this, media attention and social media attention can become intense, and that has certainly been through in this situation,” he said.
"I assure everybody has been disturbed by the amount of negative and in many cases, vitriolic media and commentary that has been produced over the last few days, particularly in the social media environment," he added.
He finished by giving his condolences to Thompson’s family.
UnitedHealth Group employees have expressed “anxiety” about their safety after the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“As someone who is not in a public facing or high profile role, but still represents the company as an employee, I find myself feeling anxious about my safety in this current climate,” said one employee during a private video conference with CEO of UnitedHealth Group, Andrew Witty, posted on X by conservative podcast host Steven Crowder.
Witty, in the 23 minute video, assured them they would have full support of the company and referred them to the Employee Assistance Program, which provides free and confidential services to staff and their families.
The killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson could be a "disgruntled" employee or client of the health insurance giant, the NYPD's top detective said Friday.
Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny revealed investigators' thinking on the still-unidentified gunman's motive during a huddle with reporters.
"Our thought on it is obviously it could possibly be a disgruntled employee or disgruntled client," he said.
The potential that the killer bore a grudge against UnitedHealthcare -- which attracted hate and controversy even before the shocking murder for denying claims -- and its chief executive, Thompson, casts his apparent meticulousness in planning, carrying out and escaping consequences for his shocking crime in an even darker light.
The masked gunman not only appears to have meticulously planned his shocking hit on Thompson, 50, outside a Midtown Hilton hotel, but also took great pains to conceal his identity, Kenny said.
The suspect said nothing to his roommates during his days-long stay at an Upper West Side hostel, Kenny said.
He even kept his mask on while eating, the chief said.
Sources have said the sole image showing the suspect's face only came about because he was flirting with a receptionist at the hostel.
NYPD investigators believe the assassin came from out of town to murder Thompson and slipped away at some unknown point after committing the deadly deed Wednesday, sources have told The Post.
The masked man seen in surveillance footage from the killing — and smiling chillingly in the sole image of his face — likely had no ties to the Big Apple, explaining his apparent days-long stay at an Upper West Side hostel, sources said.
Police have been checking the city's airports and bus and train stations in the belief that the suspect fled the city, perhaps to return to the still-unknown location where he lives, the sources said.
Investigators believe he arrived in the city Nov. 24 on a bus on an Atlanta-to-New York City route. He checked into the hostel with a fake New Jersey ID.
As the hunt continues for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer, police have traced some of the suspected gunman’s deadly path.
The suspect speaking on the phone 10 minutes before the murder. Obtained by NY Post
Between arriving in New York City more than a week before the shooting in Midtown, surveilling the site in advance of the crime and even using a fake ID to check into a youth hostel, a picture is emerging of a meticulously planned murder plot.
Several major health insurance companies have scrubbed bios of their top executives from their websites in the wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's targeted killing.
UnitedHealthcare — the nation's top health insurer — as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield, CareSource and Medica have all redirected their "Leadership" pages to either their site's homepage or "About Us" page. Many pages for individual executives' biographies are turning up "Not Found" notices.
Some health care CEOs' Wikipedia pages have even been marked for deletion.
Without explicitly mentioning Wednesday's shooting or any details, the Upper West Side hostel where Brian Thompson's killer stayed before the shooting has posted a flyer notifying guests it is cooperating with police.
"You may have noticed the presence of law enforcement and media in the area. Local authorities are currently investigating an incident that occurred several miles from this property in midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024," states the notice, seen Friday, adding that "our team is cooperating with the authorities who are handling the matter."
The Upper West Side hostel where Brian Thompson's killer stayed before the shooting has posted a flyer notifying guests it is cooperating with police who are tracking down the gunman. Courtesy of Niki Dilley
The lobby of the HI Hostel at 891 Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan, where the suspect stayed earlier this week. Its checkered floor and black banquette bench can be seen in a surveillance photo that captured the shooter checking in. HIusa.org
He arrived in NYC on Nov. 24, checked into the hostel, then appeared to have checked out for one night before returning a day later — on Nov. 30 — to rebook a room with a fake New Jersey ID, per sources. HIusa.org
The NYPD is running down hundreds of tips in the cold-blooded execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — and cops say keep them coming.
"You may think that piece of information is trivial. I'm telling you, please give us that information," said Carlos Nieves, the NYPD's assistant commissioner of public information.
"Trivial or not, it might be the piece of information that puts it all together for us."
Hundreds of tips have flooded into CrimeStoppers as of Friday morning, leaving the tip line's phones ringing off the hook and online portal inundated, Nieves said.
NYPD cops are checking out all tips, no matter how unlikely they seem, Nieves said.
"I went to school with him and this is who it is," one tipster said, according to Nieves.
"The guys in (CrimeStoppers) were actually saying, 'We hang up the phone and
another call comes in,'" Nieves said.
"One was actually coming in as I was speaking to them. It was actually a TikTok video and it says 'I think this is the guy.' So we have to look into that."
The call for tips was echoed by Mayor Eric Adams, who implored "every New Yorker and American" to contact cops if they recognize the suspect.