Summary

The NYPD released unmasked photos of the suspect in the targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot outside the New York Hilton Midtown on Dec. 4.

Surveillance footage traced the suspect’s movements before and after the crime, including his escape on an e-bike.

Investigators uncovered cryptic words on shell casings at the scene and recovered items possibly containing DNA evidence.

Authorities are using facial recognition and offering a $10,000 reward for tips. NYC Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the attack was premeditated and involved a silencer. Motive remains unknown.

    • Bosht@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Every god damned person that’s seen the headline knows exactly what the motive was, but sure, it’s biiiiiig mystery.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      You just know that calls have been placed to the NYPD commissioner to pressure them into making sure they don’t take him alive, just so billionaire-owned media can keep saying “motive remains unknown”.

      • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like they’ll need anyone to narc him out. They tracked him all the way to the hostel he was staying at and have more photos of him.

        Unless this guy was cash only with fake names and no phone in sight, they’ll probably be able to narrow it down quickly (or might already have a name they haven’t released). Maybe there’s a chance he was clever about all of that.

        But if he had a phone they’ll just do one of their dragnet warrants of people in the area at those various places and times and crossmatch the person who was at all of them. Combine that with a facial rec search against drivers license photos and other holdings, they’ll dial it in sooner than later.

        • modus@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          He ditched a phone while he was fleeing the scene and used a fake NJ ID at the hostel. Hopefully the phone was a burner.

  • blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    The guy in those photos has a different color coat and a different backpack… what makes the NYPD think they’re the shooter? Is there only one guy in NYC that wears a coat and backpack in checks notes December?

    • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Exactly, the one on the right isn’t even the shooter. It’s jake gyllenhaal trying to get photographs of the scene

    • SulaymanF@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      If you look at the background, you’ll see the white balance of the photo is different. It’s the same coat, the photo is just tinted differently.

      • serendepity@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        They’re not talking about the two unmasked photos in the article. If you look at the photos of the masked shooter, he had a different backpack (white/beige instead of black) and a different hoodie(no chest pockets).

        • Fondots@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I’m not saying it’s what happened here, but I’ve always figured that if I intended to commit a crime and escape, I’d change my outer clothes as fast as possible. If you were wearing a mask, if you put on a different jacket, backpack, hat, pants, and shoes you’re basically unrecognizable barring any recognizable scars or tattoos or whatever.

          I don’t know how much time would have elapsed between the two pictures, but if you plan for it by wearing two layers, it wouldn’t take very long to pull a second bag from your backpack and stuff the first backpack and your jacket into the second pack.

          It looks like the guy in both sets of pictures might be wearing the same sort of neck gaiter, but that’s pretty flimsy evidence to say the least

          • AugustWest@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            But why would you change into an extremely similar looking jacket and backpack and continue to walk around with the same face covering? Why would you not change into a yellow puffer jacket and put a Knicks beanie on and get rid of the damn backpack entirely?

            • Fondots@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              Hypothetically, you’d still want to blend into the crowd, “yellow puffy jacket and Knicks hat” is pretty identifiable if someone were to see you changing your clothes, but darker colored midweight hooded jacket could probably describes like 75% of what everyone on any random street in New York is wearing at any given time in the winter.

              And the backpacks look like they’re totally different colors. You also wouldn’t want to ditch the bag or clothes too close to the chime scene, don’t want to leave behind evidence that might be easily linked to you.

              Can’t speak for the neck gaiter, a black gaiter is a pretty unremarkable article of clothing, I know a few people who have started wearing them semi regularly over the winter since COVID, it’s probably not enough to be identifiable on its own, he could have simply forgotten about it, it could be functional by hiding something identifiable (neck tattoos, scars, who knows, maybe even a tracheostomy that the insurance company fucked him over with in some way) he may have wanted to keep it readily at hand to quickly cover his face again if needed, etc.

              • AugustWest@lemmy.world
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                4 days ago

                I totally agree and that was a dumb and exaggerated example. My point was only that if it really is the same person, it is too subtle of a change between jackets, where a cop on high alert would take an interest. Why not change into a completely different style of nondescript coat in a completely different color like black?

                • Fondots@lemmy.world
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                  4 days ago

                  The picture quality leaves a bit to be desired, but the two jackets do look pretty different to me. It looks like one may be a quarter zip without any chest pockets and the other is a full zip with chest pockets. And because of the differing picture qualities it’s kind of hard to say just how similar or different the colors are, they almost look like different colors from one picture of the same jacket to the other.

                  Also there may have been some deliberate choice in that sort of dark earth tone kind of color (or at least that’s what the colors look like to me,) different witnesses could give different answers for what color that jacket even is, I could imagine people calling it black, grey brown, tan, or green, depending on the lighting, how close they were, how much attention they paid, etc. on top of eyewitnesses just being kind of generally unreliable, so until they were able to get the security footage, which probably was at least a few minutes, cops could potentially have been working on conflicting descriptions of the jacket color.

                  Side note: I work in 911 dispatch, so I spend a lot of my nights trying to get descriptions of people and vehicles, I get a lot of people really struggling to tell me what color something is that’s right in front of them, and when we have multiple callers about something we’re often going to get as many different descriptions as there are callers. I remember one major incident I worked where depending on which caller you got, the description of the subject was either an older white guy wearing camo, a young black guy in a hoodie, or 3 white teenagers in trench coats.

                  It also looks like there was just another picture released where he was wearing what looks to me like a black or navy puffy jacket.

                  Also worth noting, I don’t think the NYPD has been totally clear about where these pictures were all taken on the timeline, one was taken at the hostel he was staying at and I’m not even totally clear if it’s actually from the same day as the shooting or not.

    • Black History Month@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      In the article: “It is not clear whether the photographs shared on X on the suspect are the same as those mentioned in CNN’s report.”. They’re literally making shit up.

  • nifty@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    New agencies and police are wrong for sharing this guys picture, the suspects coat and this guys coat are completely different from the front. These assholes are going to get an innocent and unrelated person assaulted.

    • D1G17AL@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I’m calling bullshit that the pictures they’ve released so far are even the same man. The builds are different, the noses are different, the skin tone is different, the jacket is different, the backpack is different, nothing in this is the same other than its a 5’10"-6’ tall man with a fucking jacket. The NYPD are dropping the ball because someone at the department hates Healthcare CEO’s too.

    • Black History Month@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      In the article: “It is not clear whether the photographs shared on X on the suspect are the same as those mentioned in CNN’s report.”. They’re literally making shit up.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      They have possible DNA sources from a burner phone and water bottle dropped in an ally, hopefully that prevents false accusations. And honestly I don’t see anyone attacking this guy. Murder is bad, but a lot of people have lost loved ones and life savings over healthcare coverage.

  • lunar17@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    What suspect? I thought they ruled the bullet wounds were a pre-existing condition and no police coverage is warranted.

  • Black History Month@lemmy.world
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    So they put up the confirmed fake photos, and include a small paragraph to protect themselves, “It is not clear whether the photographs shared on X on the suspect are the same as those mentioned in CNN’s report.”. I wonder if flooding the internet with photos is a soft attempt at protecting his identity. Remember to call in any time to the help line. I think I just saw him digging through my neighbors garbage, or it may have been a racoon.

        • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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          Just as a note - with the assumption that you weren’t being mean-spirited and just making an innocent joke - the “did you just assume their gender” meme was started and continues to be used by transphobes to make a caricature of trans folks self-identification.

          Most trans folks dress and manner themselves to be pretty clearly identified as their preferred gender - so while occasional innocent misgenderings may happen most misgenderings are assholes being assholes.

          I just wanted to clarify why your joke didn’t land in case you were unaware.