The New York City Police Department released new photos of a suspect in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which occurred Wednesday outside the New York Hilton Midtown.
The two new photos showed the suspect unmasked for the first time, his mask just under his chin. The photos were taken by a security camera, though the NYPD did not disclose where. Most of his face can be seen in both, but not fully.
“This does not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premeditated, targeted attack. The full investigative efforts of the NYPD are continuing, and we are asking for the public’s help,” the NYPD wrote in a social media post, offering a $10,000 reward for any further information on him.
UPDATE: Below are photos of a person of interest wanted for questioning regarding the Midtown Manhattan homicide on Dec. 4. This does not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premediated, targeted attack.
The full investigative efforts of… pic.twitter.com/K3kzC4IbtS
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 5, 2024
Experts believe that the shooter’s days of freedom are numbered with the latest discovery.
“With these new photos, if indeed they are the shooter, it is now only a matter of time,” Fox News crime analysis contributor Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital. “Facial recognition and other technologies have come a long way, and my understanding is that the police have been making progress on other fronts in this case. It is truer than ever that you can’t get away with murder these days. The detectives will get whoever is behind this, and soon.”
Notably, the suspect is wearing a different outfit than the one caught in the footage of him at Starbucks and during the shooting itself. In the newly released picture, he is wearing a gray jacket with breast pockets. In the previous footage, he was wearing a black jacket with no breast pockets. He is also lacking his gray backpack in the new picture. This led some users on social media to speculate that there were different people.
According to the NYPD and released surveillance footage, Thompson was shot multiple times at 6:46 a.m. outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where he was headed to a UnitedHealthcare investor conference. His assassin quickly fled the scene and was last seen in Central Park. He was caught in surveillance footage fleeing on a bike.
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the shooting a “brazen, targeted attack” and “premeditated.”
The bullet casings found at the scene had the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” written on them, according to police sources speaking with several outlets. Police sources told ABC News before the latest picture release that police may be closing in on the suspect and have obtained a search warrant for a location where he may have been staying.
