Days after gunman killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, police push to ID him and FBI offers reward

NEW YORK —  Nearly four days after the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer was fatally shot on a New York City sidewalk, police still did not know the gunman’s name or whereabouts or have a motive for the killing.

Investigators were looking at whether the shooter may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.

The FBI announced Friday night it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

The gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson likely left New York City on a bus soon after the brazen ambush that has shaken corporate America, police officials said. And he left behind a backpack that was discovered in Central Park.

Video of the gunman fleeing Wednesday’s shooting showed him riding a bicycle into Central Park and later taking a taxi to a bus terminal that offers service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C, according to Kenny. Police have video of the man entering the bus station but not of him exiting, leading them to believe he left the city, Kenny said. Investigators on Friday found a backpack in the park that had been worn by the gunman during the shooting, police said.

The gunman made sure to conceal his identity with a mask during almost all of his time in the city, yet left a trail of evidence. The gunman arrived in New York City on Nov. 24 and shot Thompson 10 days later outside his company’s annual investor conference at a hotel, police said.

The gunman got off a bus that originated in Atlanta and made several stops along the way, Kenny said. Police have not determined where he got on the bus. Investigators believe the suspect used a fake identification card and paid cash, Kenny said, when he checked in at a hostel near Columbia University.

Investigators have tested a discarded water bottle and protein bar wrapper in a hunt for his DNA. They also were trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone found along the gunman’s escape route.

Asked how close he felt police were to making an arrest, Kenny said, “This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes. We’re painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across. Eventually, when an apprehension is made, we will have to present all of these facts to a judge and jury, so we’re taking our time, doing it right and making sure we’re going to get justice for this victim and closure for his family.”

Security video of the shooting shows the killer approaching Thompson from behind, firing several shots with a gun equipped with a silencer, barely pausing to clear a jam while the executive fell to the sidewalk.

Police were looking into the possibility that the weapon was a veterinary pistol, which is a weapon commonly used on farms and ranches if an animal has to be euthanized quietly, Kenny said — though he stressed that hadn’t been confirmed.

The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, one word on each of three bullets, Kenny said. The messages mirror the phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which is commonly used by lawyers and critics about insurers that delay payments, deny claims and defend their actions.

Thompson, a father of two who lived in a Minneapolis suburb, had been with Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years. UnitedHealthcare provides coverage for more than 49 million Americans; it was named in October in a Senate report detailing how its denial rate for prior authorizations for some Medicare Advantage patients has surged.

Associated Press writer Balsamo reported from Washington, Sisak from New York. Jake Offenhartz, Cedar Attanasio and Karen Matthews in New York; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.