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The chief suspect in the killing of Brian Thompson appears to have dumped something on a pile of trash bags before shooting the UnitedHealthcare chief executive in New York, footage obtained by Newsweek shows.
The dumped object may hold vital DNA evidence about the killer's identity.
Thompson was gunned down at about 6.45 a.m. on Wednesday near the Hilton Midtown in what the New York Police Department (NYPD) said was likely to have been "a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack."
The newly emerged CCTV footage recorded on Manhattan's West 55th Street at 6:19 a.m. on Wednesday shows the man walking toward the Hilton Hotel.
There are two piles of garbage close to the Stage Star Deli at 105 West 55th Street, where the CCTV camera was recording.
The suspect walks past the first pile of blue plastic bags, then pauses in front of a pile of white plastic bags. He then leans forward and places some small object on one of the bags and continues walking. The suspect is wearing a gray backpack and dark shoes with white soles.
Newsweek sought email comment from UnitedHealthcare and the NYPD on Friday.
He is next seen about 10 minutes later walking by a parking lot on 54th Street, just one street away. That suggests there was some delay between 55th and 54th street as he continued toward the Hilton Hotel, where Thompson was due to address a UnitedHealthcare investor meeting. As he walks by the parking lot he has his hand to his face, either talking on a cellphone or shielding his face from a CCTV camera.
A full video of the assassination shows the gunman walk toward Thompson from behind. He shoots him in the back and Thompson swings to the right and appears to try to enter a doorway, but is shot again in the leg before falling down in the direction of the gunman.
The assassin's gun appears to jam and he clears it quickly before moving toward Thompson, firing again.
A woman in a long black coat who was standing against the wall between the two men runs along the wall, past the killer and out of view.
The killer then appears to turn left to walk across the road, where a driver photographed him walking into a passageway, where he picked up an e-bike which he had parked before the shooting. He then rode the bike from the passageway onto 55th street, not far from where he had dumped the object on the trash bags.
He then rides the e-bike to Central Park and appears to have then made his way north through the Park to a hostel on Amsterdam Avenue.
The NYPD have searched a dorm room of the hostel on 103rd street and Amsterdam, which the suspected gunman was sharing with two other men.
Police believe he was carrying fake New Jersey identity, which he had used to book into the hostel.
They also believe that he had traveled into New York by bus and that he spent up to a week in the city plotting the killing.
ABC News reported three shell casings bearing the words "deny," "defend" and "depose" had been recovered from the murder scene by police.
The words found on the shell casings may reference a book published by Professor Jay M. Feinman, an insurance law expert titled Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
The book argues some companies in the insurance industry have been actively denying legitimate claims. Newsweek is not able to confirm any link between the words that were reportedly on the shell casings and the book.
First responders rushed the CEO to Mount Sinai West hospital after the attack, where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m. ET. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on Wednesday that Thompson was shot in both the back and the right calf.
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more