The suspect in the killing of a health insurance executive may have flirted with a woman who works at a hostel, a report said.
On Wednesday, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was killed in an ambush as he walked from his hotel in midtown Manhattan to the company's annual investor conference across the street. Police said the gunman fled on a bicycle after the shooting and was last seen riding into Central Park.
On Thursday, the NYPD released photos of a person "wanted for questioning" in connection with Thompson's killing. The images showed a man smiling in the lobby of a Manhattan hostel, but it was not clear when the photos were taken.
Investigators believed the suspect stayed at the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue the night before the shooting, The New York Times reported.
A female employee at the hostel told authorities that she had asked a masked man to lower his mask while flirting with him, which is when the photos released by the New York Police Department were taken, an unnamed law enforcement official told CNN.
🚨UPDATE: Below are photos of a person of interest wanted for questioning regarding the Midtown Manhattan homicide on Dec. 4. This does not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premediated, targeted attack.
The full investigative efforts of... pic.twitter.com/K3kzC4IbtS
"We are fully cooperating with the NYPD and, as this is an active investigation, cannot comment at this time," Danielle Brumfitt Norris, a spokesperson for Hostelling International USA, which owns the hostel, told The New York Times.
The shooter remains at large, and the motive for the killing is unknown. However, New York police have said, "All indications are that it was a premeditated, targeted attack." Three shell casings recovered from the scene reportedly had the words "deny," "defend" and "depose" written on them—echoing a phrase popular in the insurance industry: "delay, deny, defend."
The NYPD has released other photos of the suspect, including from footage of the shooting and still images captured during a stop at a Starbucks beforehand.
Newsweek has contacted the NYPD and Hostelling International USA for comment via email.
According to the Associated Press, which cited an unnamed law enforcement official, investigators believed the suspect used a fake New Jersey identification card when he checked into the hostel.
Employees at the hostel told investigators they remembered a man who almost always wore a mask when interacting with them or passing by the front desk, the AP reported. The person reportedly wore a jacket that looked like the one worn by the man pictured in surveillance images released after the shooting.
In a news conference on Wednesday, Joseph Kenny, the NYPD's chief of detectives, said of the suspect: "The shooter appears to be a light-skinned male. He's wearing a light brown or cream-colored jacket, a black face mask, black and white sneakers and a very distinctive gray backpack."
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
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