Brian Thompson shooting live updates: Major breakthrough in hunt for killer

Law enforcement sources have revealed that investigators obtained a fingerprint off a water bottle the suspected gunman left behind at the scene.

Insiders told CNN that the fingerprint was smudged, and is therefore less conclusive than a full print.

Officials added that they are still attempting to crack into a phone that was left behind at Thompson’s murder.

The NYPD has released a clear image of the assassin who shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The killer, who has not been identified, was seen smiling widely in the image.

Officials said the image was taken from the New York International Hostel in the Upper West Side, where he was believed to have checked out of before the shooting.

A former bodyguard for slain healthcare executive Brian Thompson said he is stunned at the lack of security the CEO had while walking in Manhattan.

Security expert Philip Klein, whose firm Klein Investigations protected Thompson in the 2000s, told TMZ he is ‘shocked and baffled’ that the businessman was walking around without a detail.

He said Thompson should have had up to a dozen people protecting him given the inflammatory nature of the healthcare insurance industry.

It was previously revealed that UnitedHealthcare hired security for their top executives and Thompson had a security detail for his trip to New York City, but they were not with him when he was shot.

Klein said Thompson should have been wearing a protective vest at the very least, but may have not had any guards with him at the time for his pesonal preferance.

The suspected gunman who assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson used a fake ID from New Jersey to check into a hostel.

Police sources told the New York Post that they found an ID was used by the assailant when he checked into the HI New York City Hostel in the Upper West Side.

A probe of the ID card found that it was a fake, sources added.

Like many top Fortune 500 companies, UnitedHealthcare hired in-house security for its top executives including CEO Brian Thompson.

But the security detail that was assigned to him for his trip to New York City were not with the father-of-two when he was shot at 6:45am on Wednesday, sources told CNN.

As news of Thompson’s assassination circulated Wednesday morning, many major healthcare providers beefed up the personal protection for their top executives, insiders told the outlet.

Former Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz sparked outrage after she appeared to support the murder of Brian Thompson, while highlighting the misdeeds of another healthcare CEO.

Lorenz, once a rising star on the internet beat, issued a series of controversial posts on Bluesky shortly after Thompson was assassinated in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday.

‘Woke up to see this spammed in my group chats,’ Lorenz wrote alongside a celebratory image that read, ‘CEO DOWN.’

‘People have very justified hatred toward insurance company CEOs because these executives are responsible for an unfathomable amount of death and suffering,’ she wrote on a different post.

‘As someone against death and suffering, I think it’s good to call out this broken system and the ppl in power who enable it.’

In perhaps the most shocking post, Lorenz shared a news report about Blue Cross Blue Shield announcing they would not cover anesthesia for the full length of certain surgeries in some states.

Lorenz then added the information and picture of Blue Cross CEO Kim Keck in an apparent attempt to send an online mob in the medical executive’s direction, before insisting she only wanted people to write in ‘peacefully’ to complain.

She wrote: ‘And people wonder why we want these executives dead.’

Investigators believe the firearm used to kill Brian Thompson on Wednesday was a modern version of a rare World War Two gun.

Sources told the New York Post that detectives focusing on a Connecticut gun shop have zeroed in on a purchase of a B&T VP9 gun.

The model is an update on a Welrod pistol developed in the Second World War.

Detectives swooped in on the gun shop on Thursday after their investigation targeted a specific purchase, although it is not known if the person who bought the gun was the suspect in Thompson’s slaying.

The murder weapon from Wednesday’s shooting has not been recovered, and sources told the Post that they were focusing on the rare gun only as an investigative lead.

B&T’s website describes the firearm as an ‘updated, integrally suppressed pistol features a new grip and updated magazines, yet maintains its non-descript appearance, whisper-quiet sound signature and unique rotating bolt operation.’

Former ATF special agent in charge Jim Cavanaugh said the suspect ‘likely’ surveilled Brian Thompson’s actions on the day before he was shot dead.

Cavanaugh told NBC News that the killing did not strike him as a professional hit-job because the suspect left polinted inscriptions on shell casings at the scene.

He said in the hunt for the killer, detectives will not ignore what he termed the ‘pre-op’, where the killer may have left clues to his identity in the lead-up to the shooting.

‘This guy is in a place (Starbucks) five minutes before the CEO comes by – likely he surveilled the CEO the day before,’ Cavanaugh said.

‘So he may also be on surveillance cameras the day before without a mask.’

Investigators may have zeroed in on the gun store where Brian Thompson’s killer purchased the weapon used to shoot the healthcare CEO.

Sources told the New York Times that cops were looking into the purchase of a gun that resembles the weapon used in Thompson’s slaying.

The firearm was purchased in Connecticut, however officials have not yet established if the firearm used on Wednesday – which was fitted with a silencer – is the same as the gun that has fallen under suspicion.

The family of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson left a note for media and well-wishers saying they have been left ‘shattered’ by his passing.

‘Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives,’ the note read.

‘Most importantly, Brian was an incredibly loving father to our two sons and will be greatly missed. We appreciate your well wishes and request complete privacy as our family moved through this difficult time.’

It comes as TMZ revealed the home had also been targeted by a bomb threat 12 hours after Thompson was shot dead on Wednesday morning.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he believes investigators are zeroing in on Thompson’s killer.

He added in his appearance with MSNBC’s Morning Joe that ‘in all of my years of law enforcement, I have never seen a silencer before.’

‘And so that was really something that was shocking to us all.’

Murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s Minnesota home was targeted by a bomb threat following his slaying.

The bomb threat was directed to the City Attorney from Maple Grove, MN in an email, claiming there was a pipe bomb at Thompson’s home.

A bomb squad was dispatched but found no bomb, and the squad also cleared Thompson’s wife Pauley’s nearby home.

Security at Pauley’s home added that around 15 minutes before cops arrived to check her property, a woman in a Jeep Renegade put something in her mailbox.

The item ‘appeared to be an enveloipe the size of a cell phone’, but a K-9 united cleared the mailbox of possible explosives.

Guests at the New York International Hostel in the Upper West Side said ‘a lot of police’ charged through the building hours after Brian Thompson’s assassination.

John Nielsen, 59, a tourist from Denmark, said he had been staying in the hostel for eight days before hearing of Thompson’s shocking shooting death on Wednesday.

He told the New York Times that at around 6:30pm, a number of NYPD officers scoured the building, and went up and down the floors ‘many times.’

Mexican tourist Arturo Rodriguez, 33, who checked into the same hostel on Sunday, told the outlet that he had plans in Midtown but abandoned them after hearing of Thompson’s slaying.

He said he was stunned to learn he may have stayed with the killer, saying he shared a room with several men and women, and was terrified they could have been ‘in the same room.’

NYPD sources said Thursday that they are pursuing several leads on the name of the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Insiders told the New York Times that detectives have not yet landed on his identity, and comparisons between names and a smiling photo released this morning have been inconclusive.

Officials added that the person seen in the latest pictures of the killer checked out of a hostel on the Upper West Side on Wednesday morning.

Paulette ‘Pauley’ Thompson, 51, revealed in the hours after her husband’s death that he was receiving ‘threats’ before his trip to New York.

Thompson travelled to New York to present UnitedHealthcare’s 2025 financial outlook – which included projected revenues over $450 billion – despite his wife saying he was subjected to threats beforehand.

‘There had been some threats. Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage?’ she told NBC News.

‘I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.

‘I can’t really give a thoughtful response right now. I just found this out and I’m trying to console my children.’

She said police told her it was a ‘planned attack.’

A bystander to the early morning assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson said he feared he would also be shot as he witnessed the gunman fleeing the scene.

‘I heard the shot, and I looked around and saw a guy with a gun,’ the witness said. ‘He shot three times and then he started running.’

He said he was ‘scared’ the gunman would turn on him as he was sat nearby in his car and watched ‘the whole thing.’

Amid the search for a motive to Thompson’s slaying, it was revealed Wendesday that the CEO was the subject of an investigation from the Department of Justice.

Thompson was accused of insider trading and fraud before he was assassinated on Wednesday in Manhattan.

Last year the DoJ launched a probe into whether the private company of the nation’s biggest insurer, led by Thompson, was unfairly restricting competitors and running a monopoly.

In May, the City of Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund initiated a complaint against Thompson and other executives, accusing the CEO of failing to tell investors about the federal probe before he unloaded over 31 percent of his stock, taking in $15.1 million in proceeds.

In legal documents, the fund said Thompson and other company execs sold over $117 million worth of UnitedHealth common stock during the four-month period when insiders knew about the federal antitrust investigation but the public did not.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, America’s largest state public pension fund, then joined that complaint in October and filed an amendment seeking a jury trial against the UnitedHealth execs including Thompson.

The Wall Street Journal reported in February that federal investigators had been interviewing healthcare industry representatives in sectors where UnitedHealth competes, including doctor groups.

Investigators have asked about issues including certain relationships between the company’s UnitedHealthcare insurance unit and its Optum health services arm, which owns physician groups, among other assets.

Sickening social media posts have emerged in the wake of Brian Thompson’s slaying, with some seen celebrating the death of a healthcare insurance executive.

Users took their gripes with America’s healthcare system out on the news of Thompson’s death, sparking backlash as others urged sympathy for the father-of-two.

Congressman Dean Phillips led the outrage, saying on X: ‘Seems like leftists opposed to killing terrorists in the Middle East support killing CEOs in Midtown Manhattan.’

Among the tweets was a teenager who said: ‘Brian Thompson ran a company based off exploiting people during the most vulnerable times in their life.

Chilling footage revealed the assassin who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was on the phone to someone minutes before he opened fire.

The gunman was seen on surveillance footage loitering around Manhattan’s Hilton Hotel at 6:30am on the phone, around 175 feet from where he killed Thompson at 6:45am Wednesday.

He was also spotted standing by a counter at a nearby Starbucks and buying snacks while dressed in all black with his face mostly obscured by a balaclava ahead of the shooting.

A former FBI chief has revealed to DailyMail.com he does not believe that Brian Thompson’s assassin was a hitman, but maintained that he was clearly a ‘proficient’ marksman.

Robert D’Amico said the UnitedHeathcare CEO’s killer made some crucial errors which mark him out as an amateur, including a visiting a nearby Starbucks prior to the slaying.

The shooter approached Thompson from behind and fired several shots using a handgun equipped with a silencer. He then fled the scene on an eBike and remains at large.

D’Amico said the assassin likely shed the clothes he was filmed wearing shortly after the killing and may already have committed suicide.

But the expert also speculated that the success of the execution and subsequent escape may have emboldened him into thinking that he can get away from the crime.

D’Amico told DailyMail.com he believes a ‘suicide by cop’ where the killer would deliberately provoke police to kill him if caught is unlikely.

He said the tactic is more common among school shooters who want to go out in a blaze of glory and that Thompson’s assassin has not displayed signs of egotism.

NYPD sources revealed that detectives have obtained a usable image of the suspect’s face without a mask.

Cops previously released a series of images showing the suspect around Midtown Mnahattan before the slaying, however his face was obscured by a balaclava.

Detectives have not released the latest image of the suspect’s face.

Chilling footage captured the moment the gunman rode a bicycle through the streets of Manhattan on Wednesday morning after assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Detectives zeroed in on the path they believe the killer took when he fled the scene.

Officers had originally thought that the assailant fled on an electric Citi Bike near the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.

But by early afternoon, spokesperson for the bike share operator Lyft said that police officials had informed them that it was not from their fleet.

Police have searched a hostel in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan where they believe the suspect had been staying.

Sources told CNN on Thursday morning that detectives obtained a search warrant for a property in the city.

It was initially reported that the hostel was nearby Kama Central Park Hostel, as cops reportedly went around several in an attempt to find any staff or guests who encountered the gunman.

Insiders also told ABC News that the suspect was seen outside the Frederick Douglass Houses, a public housing project also in the Upper West Side, a 5am on the morning of the shooting.

With cops saying they are closing in on the killer, it comes as the force previously released a slate of surveillance images alongside a $10,000 reward.

Thompson was separated from his wife when he was shot dead outside Manhattan’s Hilton Hotel on Wednesday morning, it has been revealed.

The father-of-two, 50, was estranged from wife Paulette and the couple had been living in separate homes less than a mile apart in Maple Grove, Minnesota, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Thompson purchased the $1million home near his family home in 2018, according to public records, with neighbors telling the Journal that he spent much of his time traveling.

His wife Paulette, a practicing physical therapist, admitted in her first reaction after hearing of her husband’s death that he had been receiving threats.

She referenced a ‘lack of coverage.’ Despite the reported, threats,

New surveillance footage of the suspect reveals he exited a subway station nearby to the shooting, as cops continue to map out his movements.

The killer was seen in a new image first shared by the Washington Post emerging from the 57th Street F train station at 6:15am Wednesday.

Detectives say the killer then walked to a Starbucks around 100 feet away, and released images showing the suspect ordering at a counter with his face obscured by a balaclava.

The suspect lay in wait outside the Hilton until 6:46am, until he saw Thompson walk in front of the lobby.

Detectives with the NYPD revealed late on Wednesday that the assassin who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson left bullet casings reading ‘depose’, ‘deny’ and ‘defend.’

The cryptic words resemble the title of 2010 book ‘Delay, Deny, Defend’ by author Jay M. Feinman, which details ‘why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about itt.

With the search for the killer ongoing, the message has left it to cops to determine if they could hint at a motive for the slaying of the CEO.