NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN the department had “reason to believe” the suspect has left the city
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The man who police believe killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel is believed to have left New York City.
New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN in an interview that investigators now have “reason to believe” the suspect is outside the city.
CNN also spoke to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny who said that after leaving Central Park, the suspect was seen on surveillance footage walking in the area of 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, more than 30 blocks north of where the shooting occurred.
Kenny told the outlet that the suspect, who has still not been identified, got into a cab, which took him to a bus center on 178th Street and Broadway.
“Those buses are interstate buses,” Kenny said. “That’s why we believe he may have left New York City.”
Police are now trying to determine which bus the man might have gotten on, Kenny told CNN.
It was previously reported by CNN that police believe the suspect came to New York on a bus that had originally departed from Atlanta 10 days before the shooting, though it’s not clear where the suspect boarded the bus.
An image taken off a security camera at a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where the suspect is believed to have stayed prior to the shooting, shows the maskless face of the suspect.
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Surveillance footage of the shooting appears shows a hooded, masked gunman fire shots from a handgun at Thompson, who collapses on the street. Police say the suspect then fled on the bike and was seen riding into Central Park.
The shooting occurred at around 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4 outside the New York Hilton Midtown on Sixth Avenue.
ABC News reported, citing police, that the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found by authorities on the shell casings discovered at the scene.
