Detectives investigating the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive have a “reason to believe” the person responsible for the shooting has left New York City, according to police commissioner Jessica Tisch.
With the search for the shooter suspected of killing Brian Thompson now in its third day, the widespread manhunt is expanding and officials implore the public beyond the city’s borders to help them identify the suspect by taking a closer look at the unmasked man in the surveillance images released Thursday.
Tisch and Joseph Kenny, NYPD’s Chief of Detectives, sat down with CNN’s Shimon Procupecz to discuss the expanding investigation Friday. Here’s what else we’ve learned:
Police consider smiling photo of suspect to be the “money shot” that may help identify him.
Police have obtained video of the suspect entering the Port Authority Bus Station – but not exiting it, indicating he left town.
Authorities believe the suspect may have left New York City on an interstate bus.
Key evidence, including the bike the suspect rode and the gun used in the killing, is still missing.
Police are using manpower and drones to search Central Park for the suspect’s backpack.Investigators say the person they believe responsible for the killing “definitely planned this out.”
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz on Friday that the person of interest arrived in New York City ahead of the killing.
According to Kenny, there is video of the suspect about 30 minutes before showing him “walking and wandering around the hotel area before he committed this act,” he said.
“He knew what time the victim was going to be walking by. He knew what hotel this conference was going to be in,” Kenny said.
Investigators have so far recovered DNA evidence from items found at the scene and have turned it over to a lab for testing, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
Samples sent for testing are from a water bottle, which police believe the killer purchased and may have sipped from shortly before killing Thompson, and from a cell phone found at the scene which may contain touch or skin cell DNA, the official said.
NYPD investigators finished processing the items and turned the samples over to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for testing Friday, the official told CNN.
The main priority for investigators is identifying the gunman, officials say. As the NYPD homicide unit works the case, the suspect’s image has been sent to every member of the department, officials told CNN.
