Mayor Eric Adams of New York City has suggested that the killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO may have been identified by the police in the most recent significant development, but they are currently withholding the individual’s name.
In response to a question on Saturday regarding whether the investigators had knowledge of the identity of the unknown assailant, Adams stated that they are choosing not to disclose that information at this time, as reported by the New York Post.
Explaining his decision, the former NYPD captain elaborated by saying, ‘If we do, we are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all.’
‘Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask. We revealed his face. We’re going to reveal who he is and we’re going to bring him to justice… The net is tightening.’
The mayor’s cryptic comments came on Saturday, three days after the masked shooter gunned down Brian Thompson, 50, the CEO of America’s biggest health insurer.
When pressed on Sunday morning about whether police knew the identity of the suspect, NYPD told DailyMail.com: ‘There have been no updates on the case.’
Authorities are investigating the Midtown Manhattan incident as an assassination, while the hunt for the mystery assailant continues beyond New York state lines.
The NYPD released new photographs of the assassin Saturday night. He has been described as white and around 6’1′ tall, but scarce other details have been given.
A mystery gunman (pictured in surveillance footage) fatally shot Brian Thompson, 50, the CEO of America’s biggest health insurer, in Midtown Manhattan early on Wednesday morning
Brian Thompson (pictured) who had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare since April 2021, was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital after the shooting, and he was later pronounced dead
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (pictured) has implied that police might have identified the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer – but they’re not releasing his name yet
Police said the killer shot Thompson in the back and leg outside the New York Hilton Midtown on West 54th Street at around 6.45am on Wednesday.
He fired several shots during the ambush and even jammed his gun in the process, which he managed to clear quickly to continue firing.
The attacker is believed to have used a rare World War Two era-inspired 9mm gun, which the New York Post reported was a Swiss-made Brugger & Thomet VP9.
Ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words ‘delay,’ ‘deny’ and ‘depose’, mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics.
The killer fled the scene by riding an electric bike up 6th Avenue towards Central Park, and he was spotted leaving the park at 6.56am.
The latest images of the killer appear to have been taken inside the taxi which picked him up on 86th Street and Columbus Avenue two minutes after he left Central Park.
Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus around 45 minutes after the shooting.
He was seen on video at an uptown bus station, according to NYPD chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
The suspect was picked up on 86th Street and Columbus Avenue two minutes after he left Central Park in Manhattan’s Upper West Side
The suspect was picked up on 86th Street and Columbus Avenue two minutes after he left Central Park in Manhattan’s Upper West Side
With the search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late on Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
This comes on top of a reward of up to $10,000 dollars offered by the NYPD. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.
Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information.
They include Thompson’s family and co-workers, and the gunman’s randomly assigned roommates at the HI New York City Hostel in Manhattan’s Upper West Side where he stayed.
He is thought to have stopped off in the shared room facility late last month, and checked in with a fake ID from New Jersey.
‘This isn’t Blue Bloods. We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes,’ Kenny told reporters on Friday.
‘We’re painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across.’
The gunman paid cash at the hostel and for taxi rides and other transactions.
He did not speak to others at the hostel and almost always kept his face covered with a mask, only lowering it while eating.
The bag was found by cops on their second sweep of the park and was placed between boulders just south of the park’s carousel
But investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment in which he briefly showed his face soon after arriving in New York on November 24.
Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far have not been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said.
On Friday evening, investigators found a backpack in Central Park that had been worn by the gunman, police said.
They did not immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed.
Another potential clue, a fingerprint on an item he purchased at a Starbucks minutes before the shooting, has not produced any leads, Kenny said.
UnitedHealthcare’s disturbing track record of rejecting claims has come under the spotlight since the shooting.
The company was being probed by the Department of Justice for alleged antitrust violations, while its parent company, UnitedHealthcare Group (UHG), has come under fire from angry protesters who claim the insurer refused to cover their care.
UHG is the nation’s largest health insurance conglomerate. The company expected to bring in revenues of $450 billion in 2025, with Thompson believed to earn a salary in the region of $10million a year.
Officers believe they are closing the net on Thompson’s killer as the manhunt for him continued on Friday. A cop is seen here inside Central Park on Friday evening
Thompson, who had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare since April 2021, was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition after the shooting, and he was later pronounced dead.
He had slated to speak at an investor meeting at the Hilton Hotel on the morning of the shooting.
Flags flew at half-mast at the UnitedHealthcare headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota on Wednesday following the slaying of the executive.
He is survived by his wife Paulette ‘Pauley’ Thompson, 51, and their two children who live in the family’s $1.5 million home in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
