A man arrested over the fatal shooting of a US healthcare boss is “believed to be our person of interest” in the “targeted murder” of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, the commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has said.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a tip-off from an employee.
He was found carrying a “handwritten document which speaks to both his motivation and mindset”, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told a press conference on Monday.
When officers arrived, they found the man had a fake ID, and a “ghost gun”, possibly made from a 3D printer, and a silencer.
He was taken to a local police station for questioning.
Brian Thompson shooting – what we know
A map showing the suspected gunman’s movements after the shooting of Brian Thompson
One of investigators’ lines of enquiry is whether he had recently travelled to Altoona by bus from Philadelphia, a senior law enforcement official told NBC, the US partner of Sky News.
Mr Thompson was shot dead by a masked gunman outside a Manhattan hotel on Wednesday morning, while he was on the way to the company’s annual conference.
Footage showed the attacker walking up slowly behind Mr Thompson and opening fire outside the Hilton hotel in what New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described as a “premeditated, preplanned targeted attack”.
Shell casings found at the scene where the executive was killed had “deny,” “delay” and “depose” written on them.
The gunman fled on foot, then on a bike into Central Park, New York City police have said, as they launched a citywide manhunt.
In the park, detectives found a grey rucksack they believe he used, containing bank notes from the Monopoly board game, as well as a jacket which may have been worn by the gunman, NBC said on Sunday, quoting sources.
The man took a taxi to an Upper Manhattan bus station from where he could travel to New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC, New York’s chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, said on Sunday.
New CCTV has emerged showing a suspect coming out of a nearby subway station. It is said to have been filmed at 6.15am – about half an hour before the shooting on Wednesday.
A police officer stands near the scene. Pic Reuters
Police divers search Central Park. Pic: AP
In the video clip, taken from cigar shop Davidoff of Geneva on Sixth Avenue, the man can be seen walking up some stairs to street level.
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It’s about three minutes’ walk from where Mr Thompson was killed, outside his company’s annual investor meeting at a hotel near Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Centre in midtown Manhattan.
The gunman travelled to the city by bus from Atlanta, and investigators are searching for video from that bus station and others along the Greyhound Bus route, three sources close to the investigation told NBC.
Content Source: news.sky.com