A man is being questioned by police on Monday in the northeast of the United States in the investigation into the assassination in the middle of the street last Wednesday in New York of the boss of an American health insurance giant, the media announced local.
This man, interviewed in Pennsylvania, attracted the attention of investigators after being found in possession of the same type of weapon used in the assassination of Brian Thompson, director of UnitedHealthcare, NBC reported, citing two sources close to the investigations.
According to the New York Timeswhich also relies on sources close to the investigation, it was reported by a witness in a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, nearly 500 km west of the American financial capital, and also presented a fake ID, similar to the one the killer used to check into a New York hotel the night before the crime.
Contacted by AFP, the Altoona and New York police made no comment.
Police considered the possibility that the shooter used a long-barreled veterinary gun — normally used to euthanize animals — fitted with a silencer to commit the murder.
Wednesday morning at dawn, the killer approached Brian Thompson, 50, and coldly shot him in the middle of the street in front of passers-by, in front of a Manhattan hotel, a scene filmed by a video surveillance camera now seen by millions of people.
Brian Thompson was scheduled to attend an investor conference in the Midtown business district.
“Publications glorifying the event”
At this point, police have reported no motive and believe the killer managed to leave New York.
Authorities have also not confirmed media reports that the words “ delay » (delay) and “ deny » (refuse) — terms often used by insurance companies to reject claims — were written on the shell casings found at the scene.
Several photographs of the suspect, taken from video surveillance cameras, were released by the police, who also promised a reward for any information that could help the investigation. The photos show a white man, young and thin, with his face uncovered, facing forward, hood on his head and with a black choker.
UnitedHealth Group insures 51 million people and works with government programs such as Medicare, the senior health insurance system.
The death of Brian Thompson, in a premeditated assassination in the middle of the street, caused great emotion, but it was also accompanied by hateful comments on social networks against American health insurance programs, proof of anger profound with regard to a lucrative system, accused of enriching itself at the expense of patients.
The Network Contagion Research Institute, a research center specializing in digital issues, identified “a surge of highly engaged posts across social media glorifying the event, some even calling for additional acts of violence, sparking dozens millions of views.
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