The manhunt for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a shooting in the heart of Manhattan has now entered its third day, with the killer still at large.
With the gunman’s identity unknown and the motive still a mystery, authorities are trying to piece together the killer’s movements that morning – and where he went next.
The suspect, a white male dressed entirely in black, was first allegedly recorded walking outside the Frederick Douglass Houses, a public housing project on the Upper West Side, as early as 5am, according to ABC.
He was next recorded leaving the 57th Street F train stop and before being sighted on a Starbucks security camera at West 56th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan approximately 30 minutes before Thompson’s death on Wednesday morning.
At approximately 6.19am, he was recorded walking west down 55th Street, a block away from the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thomson was scheduled to speak at a conference.
Mapped: The suspect’s movements
The shooter was then spotted walking alone to the Hilton about five minutes before the victim arrived, police said.
The killer lay in wait before he opened fire outside the hotel at approximately 6:46 a.m, striking Thompson, 50, from point blank range in the back and right calf, the NYPD said.
After the attack, the suspect crossed the street near the Hilton Hotel and fled through an alleyway before hopping on an electric bike on 55th Street, investigators told CNN.
The gunman headed north on 6th Avenue towards Central Park, where he was last seen at 6:48 a.m.
Video footage, obtained by CBS News, appears to show the suspect cycling out of the park on West 85th Street just before 7 a.m., according to the sources.
Thompson was then rushed to Mount Sinai West hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 7:12 a.m.
Ten days prior to the attack, the suspect is said to have traveled to New York City by a Greyhound bus which originated in Atlanta, law enforcements sources told CNN. It is not clear where the suspect got on the vehicle.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect getting off the bus in New York around 9 p.m. ET on November 24. That day, he was seen walking through the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, one source said.
The suspect then checked into he HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue near 104th Street in Manhattan, sources told The New York Times.
He is said to have used a fake New Jersey identification book the room, a senior law enforcement official told the newspaper.
The suspect was then was said to have checked out of the hostel on November 29, before once again checking back in on November 30
During his stay, the alleged killer shared a flirtatious moment with a female hostel worker, who asked him to pull down his mask.
The moment was captured on the hostel’s security cameras and shared on X by police on Thursday morning.
No arrests have been made as of Friday morning, with the NYPD offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the killing was “not a random act of violence” but was a “targeted attack.”
Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News her husband received “some threats” threats prior to Wednesday’s shooting.
Detectives told CNN that the gunman’s slow, deliberate movements suggested that he has fired a weapon before and may have been in law enforcement or the military.
Investigators are now honing in a series of clues they hope will help identify the killer including a cryptic message left behind at the scene.
According to police sources to ABC News, the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” were carved into some of the live rounds and shell casing left outside the Hilton hotel.
The suspect also appeared to drop a water bottle he had purchased from Starbucks and a cellphone in an alleyway when he fled. Investigators hope the items might be able to provide fingerprint or DNA evidence.
