Brian Thompson shooting update: UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder manhunt enters sixth day as NYPD releases new photos

Police have amassed a trove of evidence and information, but as the manhunt for Brian Thompson’s killer entered its sixth day Monday morning, the suspect is still at large.

On Thursday, police released photos of the unmasked attacker at the HI New York City hostel — including one of a man smiling while apparently flirting with an employee at a desk. On Saturday night, the NYPD released two more photos of the suspect in a taxi, this time wearing a blue medical face mask.

Authorities collected security footage between 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. last Wednesday, tracking the suspect’s movements before he disappeared.

While searching a wooded area at the south end of Central Park on Friday night, police discovered a gray backpack nestled between two boulders containing two items: a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money.

Through Saturday and Sunday, police deployed specialized teams across New York from divers and gun detection dogs to search for the murder weapon.

A Starbucks water bottle, containing the gunman’s DNA and partial fingerprints, and a discarded cell phone were discovered in an alley near the crime scene on Sixth Avenue.

The killer also left behind a cryptic message at the scene, with the words “reject”, “reject” and “defend” written on live bullets and shell casings left outside.

Brian Thompson’s killer has been on the run since last Wednesday. Here are his key recorded movements that day before he disappeared:

5:00 am: The suspect filmed himself walking in front of the Frederick Douglass House, a public housing project on the Upper West Side.

5:30 am: The suspected attacker leaves the hostel long before dawn.

5:41 am: He appears on video at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue walking back and forth in the grounds of the Hilton Hotel where United Healthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, is holding its annual investor conference.

6:19 am: The suspect was filmed walking west down 55th Street, a block away from New York’s Hilton Midtown.

6:46 am: He shoots Thompson as the CEO arrives alone, on foot, after leaving the hotel across the street. The attacker runs away.

6:48 am: A man enters Central Park by bicycle at the 60th Street and Center Drive entrance.

6:56 am: The suspect leaves the park at West 77th Street and Central Park West, still on his bicycle. He cycles past another camera at 85th Street and Columbus Avenue two minutes later.

7:04 am: He ditches his bike and gets into a taxi heading north at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

7:30 am: The suspect is located near the George Washington Bridge and the bus terminal there. It offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Joe DeVito made the long drive from a gig in Nashville to New York on Thursday with news that a health insurance executive had been fatally shot.

He saw people use death as an opportunity to vent their anger at the health insurance industry and share their own stories of being denied coverage for care. Along the way, in Virginia, he stopped at a rest stop to record a song about it.

“I wanted to put in my two cents and try to convey that anger and why people are so angry,” he says The Independent.

Richard Hall has a full story.

When the CEO of one of the largest medical insurance companies in the United States was gunned down Wednesday on a Midtown Manhattan street, his death quickly turned into a broader conversation about the much-maligned industry in which he worked.

Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was in New York at a conference when he was killed in what police believe was a targeted shooting.

Among the hundreds of social media posts about the shocking murder, many people were moved to speak out about the injustice of the health insurance industry. Often dark jokes on X, Instagram, Reddit and TikTok talked about how cruel medical insurance companies can be to their customers. Some even wrote folk songs about the event.

Read Richard Hallfull analysis is below.

Police gun detection dogs have been deployed to search for the weapon used to kill Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, who died last Wednesday.

Authorities deployed a K9 unit to search Fort Tryon Park, while separately searching subway stations near the George Washington Bridge, a senior law enforcement official told NBC on Sunday.

The weapon, which police believe the suspect threw away before fleeing New York, has not yet been found.

A small elite team of divers redeployed to Central Park on Sunday, after first combing the waters on Saturday, the source said.

The gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York hotel on Wednesday is still at large — but police appear to be investigating the suspect’s identity as their search intensifies.

Thompson, a 50-year-old Minnesota resident, was scheduled to speak at an investor meeting when he was shot and killed around 6:45 a.m. outside New York’s Hilton Midtown on 6th Avenue in what police are calling a “targeted attack.”

Andrea Cavallier, Madeline Sherratt and Katie Hawkinson take a closer look at the case.

Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole believes the man who killed Brian Thompson last week won’t elude capture for long.

The manhunt for a shooting suspect has entered its sixth day after the head of UnitedHealthcare was shot at point-blank range outside the New York Hilton Midtown on Wednesday.

O’Toole, who helped track down the Unabomber during her career with the bureau, believes the suspect’s days are numbered because he is bound to “make a mistake.”

“I think we’ll know who this is in a few days, if that’s the case,” O’Toole told CNN. “The ability to stand up to that kind of investigation, one person can’t do it, no matter how arrogant you are.

She added, “You’re bound to make mistakes.”

“This week, New York City officials sent a stark message about crime: If you kill someone in the middle of the street, you better get on your bike, get on the bus and get out of here, sir,” Jost said.