The man suspected of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel took a taxi to the Port Authority bus facility at 178th Street and boarded a bus out of New York City following the shooting, according to police.
The unidentified man remains at large in the wake of Wednesday’s attack, which was described by police as “brazen, targeted” and “premeditated.”
Police have not recovered the shooter’s backpack and are searching Central Park on Friday afternoon, police said.
The killer entered New York City by bus on Nov. 24, when a surveillance camera at Port Authority Bus Terminal caught his arrival at 9 p.m., law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The inbound bus originated in Atlanta but it was not immediately clear where the suspected boarded. Sources told ABC News he was spotted on board in Washington, D.C.
Police are investigating whether the suspect left New York City by bus on Wednesday after the murder.
The 10-day period he was in New York City before the shooting is the focus of investigative efforts.
Police have collected video of the suspect all over the city, including in the subway, in cabs and in a McDonald’s, sources told ABC News. In each place, he paid with cash and he made sure to keep his mask on, which indicates to detectives he knew he was coming to New York City to commit the murder, sources said.
Police were able to find a surveillance image of the suspect without his face mask on because he was flirting with the woman who checked him into a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, police sources said.
As he stood at the check-in desk, the sources said the woman asked to see his smile. The shooter obliged, pulling down his mask long enough for the surveillance camera to capture his face.
Police have determined the suspect checked into the hostel using a New Jersey license that wasn’t his own, police sources told ABC News.
