(Reuters) – Authorities have identified the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson and are closing in on him, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was quoted as saying on Saturday by the New York Post .
“The net is tightening,” Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League Christmas party in Harlem, according to the Post. He refused to name the suspect.
Thompson, 50, who became CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit in April 2021, was shot in the back around 6:45 a.m. ET (11:45 GMT) Wednesday in what police described as an attack targeted by a masked attacker on the lookout.
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The murder occurred just before the company’s annual investor conference at the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue.
The shooting sparked a massive manhunt for the shooter, who fled on foot wearing a hooded jacket, balaclava and gray backpack before getting on an e-bike and riding to Central Park , the police said.
Adams was quoted by the Post as saying police are not releasing the suspect’s name at this time in order to deny him any benefits.
“We don’t want to release it now,” the mayor said. “If you do that, you’re essentially tipping the person we’re looking for and we don’t want to give them the upper hand at all. Let him continue to believe that he can hide behind the mask.”
“We revealed his face,” he continued, referring to photos and security camera videos released after the killing. “We are going to reveal who he is and we are going to bring him to justice.”
New York police said Friday they believed the suspect had left New York, after video was released showing him getting into a taxi that took him to a bus station.
“We have video of him entering the Port Authority bus terminal. We don’t have any video of him leaving, so we believe he may have gotten on a bus,” she told CNN Joseph Kenny, Chief of Detectives of the New York Police Department. “These buses are interstate buses. That’s why we think he may have left New York.”
The circumstances of the attack suggest it was premeditated and planned, police said, with video showing the shooter ignoring other pedestrians while appearing to wait for Thompson. The shooter’s motive was not yet known.
Security video showed the shooter behind Thompson, raising his handgun and shooting into his back. Thompson, a married father of two, suffered gunshot wounds to the back and leg and was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after the attack.
UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer in the United States, providing benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for their health care than people in any other country.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; editing by Daniel Wallis)
