Police in Pennsylvania have apprehended a person of interest in the Midtown assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel last week, sources close to the case confirmed to amNewYork Metro Monday.
The New York Post reported that the individual had been picked up in the western Pennsylvania city of Altoona early on Dec. 9 after allegedly presenting a fake ID at a McDonald’s restaurant.
Law enforcement agents in the Keystone State also found in the person of interest’s possession a gun as well as a silencer, several other phony identification cards, and a manifesto, the Post reported. NYPD officials are now en route to Pennsylvania to meet with the individual.
The development comes after an intense, five-day manhunt for the suspected assassin, who killed Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel on West 54th Street near 6th Avenue at about 6:45 a.m. on Dec. 4.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police believe the unidentified shooter arrived outside of the hotel just five minutes before Thompson, who was scheduled to speak at an investor meeting that morning.
Thompson was shot in the back and thigh and died at Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital. By all accounts, it appeared to be a targeted killing; the assassin allegedly used a silencer, and shell casings recovered at the scene were found to have the words “Deny,” “Defend” and “Depose” written on them in marker.
Over the course of the investigation, detectives pieced together the assassin’s travels in New York, having arrived from (and later departing to) out-of-state at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and staying at an Upper West Side hostel. Throughout the weekend, police also combed areas of Central Park looking for and obtaining additional evidence, including a backpack the killer carried with him.
Source: AMNY