NEW YORK (AP) — The gunman who killed the CEO of the most important U.S. well being insurer might have fled town on a bus, New York Metropolis police officers advised CNN on Friday.

Video of the gunman leaving the scene of Wednesday’s taking pictures of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson confirmed him driving a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny advised CNN.

“We have now cause to consider that the particular person in query has left New York Metropolis,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned.

The gunman made positive to hide his identification with a masks in the course of the taking pictures but left a path of proof in view of the nation’s greatest metropolis and its community of safety cameras.

A regulation enforcement official mentioned Friday that new surveillance footage exhibits the suspect driving the subway and visiting institutions in Manhattan and offered extra clues about his actions within the days earlier than the ambush.

The gunman’s whereabouts and identification remained unknown Friday, as did the explanation for Wednesday’s killing. New York Metropolis police say proof firmly factors to it being a focused assault.

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Investigators consider the suspect might have traveled to New York final month on a bus that originated in Atlanta, based on the regulation enforcement official, who was not approved to debate particulars of the continuing investigation and spoke to The Related Press on situation of anonymity.

As soon as arriving in New York, he all the time appeared to pay with money in institutions the place he was captured on digital camera, the official mentioned.

Investigators have examined a discarded water bottle and protein bar wrapper in a hunt for his DNA. In addition they have been attempting to acquire extra data from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza the place the gunman fled after taking pictures Thompson outdoors his firm’s annual investor convention at a resort simply blocks from Radio Metropolis Music Corridor and Rockefeller Heart.

The shooter then received on a bicycle, driving although an space dotted with safety cameras. He was final seen disappearing into the southern tip of Central Park close to the famed Plaza Resort after crossing a road that’s usually bustling with joggers, horse-drawn carriages and taxis.

Police have launched pictures of an individual needed for questioning in reference to the killing that have been taken within the foyer of a hostel on Manhattan’s Higher West Facet. The pictures, exhibiting an unmasked man smiling within the foyer of the HI New York Metropolis hostel, add to a set of pictures and video circulated because the taking pictures — together with footage of the assault itself, in addition to pictures of the suspected gunman stopping at a Starbucks beforehand.

Surveillance pictures from the taking pictures present the person carrying a hooded jacket and a masks that hid most of his face — a glance that will not have attracted consideration on a cold morning.

Investigators have discovered the person lowered his masks on the entrance desk of the hostel as a result of he was flirting with the lady who checked him in, the regulation enforcement official advised the AP, resulting in a photograph of his face. The lady advised investigators that in that encounter she requested to see his smile and he pulled down his masks, the official mentioned.

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Investigators consider the suspect used a pretend New Jersey identification card, the official mentioned, when he checked in on the hostel, which has a café together with shared and personal rooms and is simply blocks from Columbia College.

Workers who work on the hostel advised investigators they remembered a person who virtually all the time wore a masks when interacting with them or strolling by the entrance desk. The particular person wore a jacket that seemed just like the one worn by the person in surveillance pictures, the official mentioned.

Investigators consider the shooter had at the least some firearms coaching and expertise with weapons, the official mentioned.

Safety video exhibits the killer approaching Thompson from behind, firing a number of photographs with a gun geared up with a silencer, barely pausing to clear a jam whereas the chief fell to the sidewalk.

The phrases “deny,” “defend” and “depose” have been scrawled on the ammunition, two regulation enforcement officers advised the AP on Thursday. The messages mirror the phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which is generally used by attorneys and critics about insurers that delay funds, deny claims and defend their actions.

Thompson, a father of two sons who lived in a Minneapolis suburb, had been with Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare since 2004 and served as CEO for greater than three years.

The insurer’s guardian firm, UnitedHealth Group Inc., was holding its annual assembly in New York for buyers. The corporate abruptly ended the convention after Thompson’s loss of life.

UnitedHealth Group mentioned it was centered on supporting Thompson’s household, making certain the protection of staff and aiding investigators. “Whereas our hearts are damaged, we have now been touched by the large outpouring,” the corporate mentioned.

UnitedHealthcare gives protection for greater than 49 million Individuals. It manages medical insurance protection for employers and state and federally funded Medicaid applications.

In October, UnitedHealthcare was named together with Humana and CVS in a Senate report detailing how its denial price for prior authorizations for some Medicare Benefit sufferers has surged in recent times.

The taking pictures has shaken company America and the medical insurance business particularly, inflicting corporations to reevaluate safety plans and delete pictures of executives from their web sites. A unique Minnesota-based healthcare firm mentioned Friday it was briefly closing its places of work out of an abundance of warning, telling staff to work at home.