New images of ‘smiling CEO assassin’

New images of the person who allegedly killed a top CEO in New York City have been released — the man has been dubbed the “smiling assassin”.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has released new photos of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s alleged killer.

The new images, released on Saturday night (local time) include one showing him sitting masked in a taxi. It was taken after the brazen Midtown murder.

The suspect is shown looking directly into a camera as he apparently peers through a divider window to talk to the driver in one photo.

The suspect is shown looking directly at a camera as he apparently peers through a divider window to talk to the driver in one photo. Picture: DCPI

Police have said that the suspect took a cab out of the Central Park area after committing the heinous murder outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, but cops could not say if the image was from that exact ride.

In another photo, also from a screengrab of video from a car, the killer is seen wearing a hoodie and black down jacket as he walks on the street.

These photos are both taken after the suspect allegedly killed Mr Thompson, police sources confirmed to the New York Post.

In another photo, also from a screengrab of video from a car, the killer is seen wearing a hoodie and black down jacket as he walks on the street. Picture: DCPI

Earlier, the NYPD revealed that the killer’s backpack, found in Central Park, contained a jacket and fake money from the board game Monopoly.

The killer’s weapon is now thought to be a type of veterinarian gun — the kind that is used to put down farm animals that requires a reload after every fired shot, which the suspect can be seen doing on video.

Each bullet casing had a word scrawled in marker: “Depose,” Delay,” and “Deny” in an apparent reference to a 2010 book “Delay, Deny, Defend,” which posed sharp critiques of the health insurance industry.

Cops are probing whether the weapon used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was a “veterinary” gun commonly used to euthanize animals. Picture: obtained by NY Post

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in a suspected targeted attack in Midtown Manhattan. Picture: AFP

The alleged killer was dubbed the “Smiling Assassin” due to photos like this. Picture: AFP

Mr Thompson was gunned down Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.

That assassination was seen in its entirety on security camera footage — with the killer firing three shots that hit Mr Thompson in the back as he walked to an insurance conference where he was expected to give a presentation.

Police say the suspect wrote “defend,” “depose” and “deny” on the bullet casings, and may have been either a “disgruntled employee or disgruntled client.”

New York police have released new photos of the alleged gunman who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Picture: NYPD

The suspect would take a bike up Sixth Avenue to Central Park, then take a cab fleeing the park area, and would eventually arrive at the Port Authority bus terminal near 178th Street, according to the NYPD.

“Those buses are interstate buses,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said in interviews Friday, adding, “That’s why we believe he may have left New York City.”

“We have video of him entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal. We don’t have any video of him exiting so we believe he may have gotten on a bus,” Mr Kenny concluded.

Police say the suspect arrived in New York City via a Greyhound bus from Atlanta prior to the murder.

“The net is tightening,” Mayor Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League holiday party in Harlem on Saturday.

The mayor declined to say whether investigators knew the suspect’s name.

“We don’t want to release that now,” Mr Adams said.

The manhunt for the suspect is entering its fifth day.

This story originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission