The suspect who shot and killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning used a fake New Jersey driver’s license to check into an Upper West Side hostel. He attempted to evade capture by blending in with others and avoiding surveillance cameras, the authorities said.
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“He tried to become a ghost, basically, and the ruse that he used was ‘Let me hide in plain sight,’” retired NYPD sergeant Felipe Rodriguez told CNN. Video footage showed the shooter fleeing the scene on an e-bike into Central Park, which is a “beautiful place to change clothing” to avoid detection, according to Rodriguez.
He added: “He already knows that we’ve already picked up at least his clothing to be able to broadcast over police radio, so what you wanna do is quickly change out of that.”
Photos of the suspect smiling while his mask was lowered in a flirtatious moment with a hostel clerk may not help authorities identify him if he’s never been arrested before, Rodriguez said.
“We might not have the right angle for biometrics, and the more you pixelated a shot, the more you actually lose the identity.”
Despite his efforts, the suspect left behind several critical pieces of evidence that could lead authorities to identify him. Retired FBI supervisory special agent Steve Moore said the shooter had planned the shooting well but also made mistakes. “What surprises me is how well planned the actual attack was, and at the same time how sloppy the killer was in his movements, in his showing his face, in leaving behind items,” he told CNN.
He added: “There’s kind of a dichotomy. It’s almost as if he read a book on how to do one of these attacks and didn’t read it carefully. He just made serious mistakes as he went along.”
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The authorities have yet to identify the assailant, but Moore believes a breakthrough could be imminent due to photographic evidence of the suspect’s face and other physical evidence found near the scene. One such clue is a water bottle and coffee cup he threw into a trash can near a Starbucks shortly before carrying out the shooting. This could provide critical DNA evidence if he drank from it. Also, investigators found a smudged fingerprint on the bottle.
New video evidence also showed that the shooter dumped another object into a pile of trash on the ground near the Stage Star Deli on West 55th Street just minutes before the shooting.
The footage, obtained by Newsweek, shows the man pausing at a pile of white plastic bags, leaning forward, and putting a small object on one of the bags before walking toward the Hilton, where he murdered Thompson.
He is next seen about 10 minutes later walking by a parking lot on 54th Street, just one street away. That suggests there was some delay between 55th and 54th street as he continued toward the Hilton Hotel, where Thompson was due to address a UnitedHealthcare investor meeting. As he walks by the parking lot he has his hand to his face, either talking on a cellphone or shielding his face from a CCTV camera.
The authorities are also searching for the shooter’s backpack in Central Park, according to The Independent. The report notes that video footage showed the suspect leaving the park without the backpack which can clearly be seen on his back in the footage showing the shooting. The shooter is believed to have left New York City as investigators continue their efforts to identify and locate him.
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UPDATE, 6:41 p.m. EST: The Associated Press reports that authorities have located what they believe is the alleged shooter’s backpack in Central Park:
New York City police say they have found a backpack carried by the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The backpack was found in Central Park on Friday, three days after the shooting, hours after police officials told CNN that the gunman had fled New York City by bus.
As this is a swiftly developing story, RedState will provide updates as warranted.
