Newly released photos appear to show the suspect in a cab (Pictures: AP)
A backpack believed to have belonged to the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was found abandoned in Central Park – with Monopoly money inside of it.
The grey backpack was unearthed near a playground and was sent for testing in a Queens laboratory, where the board game money was found, according to the New York Post.
The backpack, described by NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny as ‘very distinctive’, also had a jacket inside of it.
Paul Dering, CEO of Peak Design – which produce backpacks similar to the one worn by the suspect – said he thinks one of his backpacks was used by the suspect, though this hasn’t been confirmed.
Five days on from the assassination, the New York Police Department have released new photos of the masked suspect.
The assassin approached his victim from behind, levelled his gun, which had a silencer, and firing several shots, hitting Thompson in the back and leg. Moments later, police said he fled on a bicycle and was last seen riding up to Sixth Avenue and into Central Park where he was last seen at 6.48am.
New photos of the suspect were released by the NYPD (Picture: AP)
A grey backpack similar to the one the killer was wearing was found this weekend (Picture: ABC News)
The daylight killing of one of the biggest health CEOs in America became even more mysterious when it was revealed the words ‘deny’, ‘defend’ and ‘depose’ were carved into shell casings found at the scene.
The words evoke the title of Jay Feinman’s 2010 book critical of the insurance industry ‘Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It’.
New York City mayor Eric Adams seemed to allude to the fact that authorities know the suspect’s identity.
He said: ‘We don’t want to release that now. If you do, you are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all. Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask.
‘We revealed his face. We’re going to reveal who he is and we’re going to bring him to justice.’
UnitedHealth is the largest US health insurer, providing benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for healthcare than people in any other country.
Thompson joined UnitedHealth in 2004 and became the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, in April 2021, reportedly earning around $10 million a year.
A Gallup poll released on Friday found that Americans believe the quality of health care is at a 24-year low.
Following the attack, UnitedHealth and several other health insurers including CVS Health and Centene, removed pictures of executives from their corporate websites in an apparent tightening of security measures.
Centene said on Thursday it would no longer hold an in-person investor day next week, and that the event would be streamed.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.