Police release new photos as they search for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO

NEW YORK — The masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest U.S. health insurance companies outside a Manhattan hotel used ammunition emblazoned with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” two law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The words were written in permanent marker, according to one of the officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

With the gunman still at large, police also released photos of a person they said was wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, died in a dawn ambush Wednesday as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference at a Hilton hotel in Midtown, blocks from tourist draws such as Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art. The reason behind the killing remained unknown, but investigators believe it was a targeted attack.

The message left on the ammunition echoes the phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which is commonly used by attorneys and insurance industry critics to describe tactics used to avoid paying claims. It refers to insurers delaying payment, denying a claim and then defending their actions. Health insurers like UnitedHealthcare have become frequent targets of criticism from doctors and patients for complicating access to care.

Investigators recovered several 9 mm shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled. Inside a nearby trash can, they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that they say the gunman purchased from a nearby Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The city’s medical examiner was looking for fingerprints.

The killing and the shooter’s movements in the minutes before and afterward were captured on some of the multitudes of security cameras present in that part of the city. The shooter fled on a bike and was last seen riding into Central Park.

The hunt for the shooter brought New York City police Thursday morning to at least two hostels on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, based on a tip that the suspected shooter may have stayed at one of the residences, according to one of the law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.

The photos police released Thursday of a man wanted for questioning were taken in the lobby of the HI New York City hostel. The man is smiling in one of the photos.

“We are fully cooperating with the NYPD and, as this is an active investigation, can not comment at this time,” Danielle Brumfitt, a spokesperson for the hostel said in an emailed statement.

Police have received a flood of tips from members of the public, many of them unfounded. On Wednesday evening, police searched a Long Island Rail Road train after a commuter claimed to have spotted the shooter, but found no sign of the gunman.

“We’re following up on every single tip that comes in,” said Carlos Nieves, a police spokesperson. “That little piece of information could be the missing piece of the puzzle that ties everything together.”

Investigators believe, judging from surveillance video and evidence collected from the scene, that the shooter had at least some prior firearms training and experience with guns and the weapon was equipped with a silencer, said one of the law enforcement officials who spoke with the AP.

Investigators also were looking into whether the suspect had pre-positioned a bike as part of an escape plan, the official said.

Security camera video showed the killer approach Thompson from behind, level his pistol and fire several shots, barely pausing to clear a gun jam while the health executive tumbled to the pavement. Cameras showed him fleeing the block across a pedestrian plaza, before getting on the bicycle.

Police issued several surveillance images of the man wearing a hooded jacket and a mask that concealed most of his face, which wouldn’t have attracted attention on a frigid day. Authorities also used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intensive search, but the killer’s whereabouts remained unknown.

Thompson, a father of two sons who lived in suburban Minneapolis, had been with UnitedHealthcare since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years.

The insurer’s Minnetonka, Minnesota-based parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., was holding its annual meeting with investors in New York to update Wall Street on the company’s direction and expectations for the coming year. The company ended the conference early in the wake of Thompson’s death.

UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the U.S. and manages health insurance coverage for employers and state and federally funded Medicaid programs.