Police investigating the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson believe they have found the backpack the gunman was wearing when he gunned down the 50-year-old executive as he headed for an investors conference at a New York hotel on Wednesday.
The masked shooter was wearing the backpack in all of the multiple times he was seen prior to the shooting as well as when he rode a bike into Central Park minutes later. But he was not wearing the backpack when he left the park 15 minutes after the shooting.
The backpack was found in Central Park on Friday as investigators canvassed the area with drones and foot patrols, a source familiar with the investigation told WABC. Two senior law enforcement sources told WNBC the gray backpack was found near the area where the gunman was seen riding into the park. The backpack is being taken to a lab for a forensics examination. There’s no word on what was inside.
Meanwhile, investigators are working on the assumption that the shooter has left New York City. According to WABC, he was seen biking out of Central Park and then spotted on foot at Columbus Avenue and West 86th Street, where he hailed a taxi that took him to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, a Port Authority operated terminal at 178th Street.
Video obtained by FOX 5 NY shows the suspected CEO killer riding a bike at 6:58 a.m. Wednesday on the Upper West Side. He later flees NYC — here’s the possible escape route: pic.twitter.com/XgnEgs4OGR
— FOX 5 NY (@fox5ny) December 6, 2024
He was not seen leaving the terminal, leading investigators to believe he took a bus out of the city.
The “person of interest” arrived in New York by bus on November 24, officials said. The inbound bus originated in Atlanta, but authorities don’t know at what point along the 870-mile route he may have boarded the bus. Riders who pay cash don’t have to show ID, and the gunman is known to have used cash a multiple other points during his sojourn in the city.
After he arrived in the city, he took a cab to the vicinity of the Hilton Midtown Hotel, where the UnitedHealthcare investors conference was to be held on December 4. He stayed in the area for about 30 minutes and then took a cab to the Upper West Side hostel where he stayed, checking out briefly on November 29 but returning the next day, according to WCBS.
He used a fake ID with a fake name to check into the hostel, and investigators believe that name was completely made up.
