Alleged Gunman In CEO Killing Captured
The gunman who allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on Dec. 4 has been detained for questioning in connection with Thompson’s death, according to law enforcement sources.
ABC News reports that a man in Altoona, Pennsylvania, was stopped with a fake New Jersey ID after he walked into a McDonald’s and was recognized by someone in the establishment due to the photos police had circulated.
On the man, was a gun similar to the one allegedly used to kill Thompson. A computer was also recovered by police in Altoona.
According to police sources, the man checked into a hotel in the Upper East Side using another person’s New Jersey license before the shooting. A new video also shows Thompson’s alleged killer allowing others to pass before going across the street to shoot the CEO at point-blank range.
This matches authorities’ belief that he targeted Thompson. According to ABC News, police currently have no motive.
Immediately after the shooting, the suspect fled on a bicycle through Central Park to the Upper West Side, where he took a taxi to the Port Authority bus facility in midtown Manhattan and boarded a bus out of New York City.
Recent pictures released by the New York Police Department showed the suspect in the back of a taxi as he looked through the partition between the front and back seats. An additional photo showed the suspect walking by the windows of a cab.
Investigators indicated that the man arrived in New York City via a bus from Atlanta, but it is unclear where he is from..
On Dec. 8, as the NYPD Dive Team searched Central Park near the Bethesda Fountain. A backpack containing a jacket and Monopoly money was discovered. Police did not recover a gun. The electric bike the suspect rode to get to the taxi is also missing.
According to CNN, the alleged shooter possessed a “ghost gun”—an untraceable, homemade weapon. He also had on him a document railing against the healthcare industry, which suggested that violence is the answer, according to a law enforcement official.
A partial fingerprint was allegedly pulled from a “burner phone” believed to belong to the suspect. DNA obtained from a water bottle and energy bar wrapper the man allegedly bought has, so far, returned no matches.
According to law enforcement sources, the alleged killer made several mistakes, and once they obtained his identity, they could piece together patterns that ultimately led to his capture.
“I’m thinking we’re going to know who this is within a matter of a few more days, if that,” former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole told CNN before the suspect was captured. “He’s completely outnumbered. With that kind of manpower behind their efforts, they’re going to come up with the information that identifies him.”
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