Police place bullet casing markers outside of a Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York, where United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot on Wednesday, December 4. Photo: CNN Newsource
A Gisborne man holidaying in New York has been staying at the same hostel as the man at the centre of a massive manhunt after the killing of a top US healthcare executive.
Braydon Harwood is at the HI New York City Hostel, where the suspect in the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, is believed to have stayed before Thursday's shooting.
Harwood told RNZ he checked in at the hostel a day later, but was staying on the same floor as the suspect.
"Pretty shocked, as you could imagine.. I was coming over from Texas just to see some friends for the weekend, and you know, it was the talk of the town there - talk of the town all around the country.
"So you know, to find out for a lot of these people that they were sleeping next to the guy, probably a bit of a shock to the system I'd imagine."
Harwood said there had been a media scrum outside the front of the hostel all day.
A Canterbury commerce graduate has also been caught up in the police investigation. Niki Dilley, who had been visiting New York, has described the police investigation at his hostel - where the chief suspect was also staying - as "scary but cool".
It comes as detectives investigating the killing of Thompson recovered possible DNA evidence from items found at the scene and turned it over to a lab for testing, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
Samples sent for testing are from a water bottle, which police believe the killer purchased and may have sipped from shortly before the killing, and from a cell phone found at the scene which may contain touch or skin cell DNA, the official said.
NYPD investigators finished processing the items and turned the samples over to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for testing Friday, the official told CNN.
The main priority for investigators is identifying the gunman, officials say. As the NYPD homicide unit works the case, the suspect's image has been sent to every member of the department, officials told CNN.
The New York City Police Department's video collection unit is building a trail of surveillance video sightings and canvassing for still images of the assailant's face to load into their facial recognition technology, the official said.
A smiling surveillance photo depicting a hooded man - a face mask pushed down around his neck - may be a key clue leading police to the suspect in the fatal shooting.
The image released by the New York Police Department shows a man authorities call a "person of interest wanted for questioning" in the Wednesday morning killing. He is captured in a flirtatious moment with a female employee at a hostel on New York's Upper West Side where he had been staying, a law enforcement official told CNN.
The employee asked the man to lower his face mask, which is when the photos released by authorities on Thursday were captured, the official said.
"He lowers the mask, and gives that big smile," CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller said. "That little flirtation between the two of them, in some good-humoured way, actually yielded what is so far the most significant clue to identifying him."
NYPD release photos of suspected gunman without mask Photo: NYPD
The hostel apologised for the presence of law enforcement and media in the area on a flyer posted inside the building Thursday night, a photo obtained by CNN shows.
"The well-being of our guests, volunteers, staff and all those at our property is our top priority, and our team is cooperating with the authorities who are handling the matter," the flyer reads.
Dilley, 23, checked into the hostel on Tuesday. Dilley is travelling with a friend and staying in a four-person room on the fourth floor. He said he never saw the person of interest, adding many people are going in and out of the building all the time.
Dilley saw one police officer on Wednesday night but was not interviewed. "It's made for an interesting week," he said, but has noticed no mass exodus of guests as a result. "It's scary, but also cool," he said of staying at the hostel.
"We are fully cooperating with the NYPD and, as this is an active investigation, cannot comment at this time," a spokesperson for the hostel previously told CNN.
A flyer is seen at an Upper West Side hostel that a person of interest checked into. Photo: Niki Dilley
Along with photos from the hostel, investigators continue to examine physical evidence including the burner phone and water bottle believed to have been dropped by the suspect when he fled the shooting scene - first on foot, then by bike - as well as recovered ammunition with the words "depose" and "delay" written on them, sources told CNN.
Authorities also have pieced together more about how and when the suspect got to New York City.
Now, the biggest challenge for the NYPD is tracing the movements of one person in a city populated with more than 8 million people, Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director, told CNN Thursday.
Parent company adds security measures for employees
In the wake of the brazen attack, UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare, has laid out security plans for employees.
"We're ensuring the safety, security and wellbeing of our employees," said Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group in an email sent to employees on Thursday and obtained by CNN.
The health insurance company is fully cooperating with law enforcement as the manhunt continues, the email said.
"Several support mechanisms" are being put in place for employees, Witty said. "We have increased security at our campuses in Minnesota, in addition to sites in Washington, DC, and New York City areas."
No visitors are allowed on administrative campuses through the end of the week, Witty added.
How the suspect got to New York City
Video of the brazen killing - carried out in full view of pedestrians in the busy Manhattan area - helped investigators determine the suspect's first moves after the shooting, police said.
The masked gunman waited for Thompson outside the Hilton Midtown shortly before 7am Wednesday then shot him multiple times before fleeing through an alleyway and getting on an electric bike. He was last seen at 6.48am headed into Central Park, New York police said.
Thompson, who lived in Minnesota and was on his way to the hotel to attend his company's annual investor conference, was pronounced dead less than half an hour later.
New details are now emerging about the suspect's movements in the days leading up to the shooting.
The suspected gunman travelled on a Greyhound bus that started its route in Atlanta, law enforcement sources told CNN. Authorities do not know whether the suspect boarded in Atlanta or elsewhere, sources said.
Police believe the assailant arrived at New York City's Port Authority bus terminal on 24 November - 10 days before the shooting - then checked into the Upper West Side hostel, a law enforcement official said.
After that, he appears to have moved around the city, the official said.
The suspected shooter appeared to wear a mask throughout most of his stay at the hostel, law enforcement sources told CNN. He was housed in a multi-person room with two other males, one source said.
The suspect checked out of the hostel on 29 November and checked back in on 30 November, law enforcement sources told CNN.
He paid the establishment in cash, according to one source - checking into the hostel using a fake New Jersey driver's license, a law enforcement official previously told CNN.
Clues from the crime scene
A shell casing recovered from one of the bullets fired at Thompson had the word "depose" written on it, while "delay" was written on a live round that was ejected when the shooter appeared to be clearing a jam, law enforcement sources told CNN on Thursday.
Police are exploring whether the words found indicate a motive, pointing to a popular phrase in the insurance industry: "delay, deny, defend".
Police are still trying to determine where the suspect got the e-bike, however investigators are developing clues from the burner phone and water bottle believed to have been dropped by the gunman when he fled the shooting scene.
A fingerprint was lifted from the water bottle, a law enforcement official told CNN. The print, however, is smudged making it less conclusive, the official said.
The phone could yield fingerprints, DNA and - if police technicians can unlock the phone - other clues to the suspect's identity, investigators said. Even a disposable burner phone might yield clues about communications and searches before the shooting. Police on Thursday afternoon were still trying to access that phone, a law enforcement official said.
Authorities have not found the gunman's bike, weapon or backpack.
Police place bullet casing markers outside of a Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York, where United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot on Wednesday. Photo: CNN Newsource
A needle in a haystack
The suspect could have taken steps after fleeing to Central Park to evade detection, like changing into a different set of clothes, McCabe said.
Through Wednesday, police deployed mobile field forces to conduct a grid search, looking through garbage cans, dumpsters and bushes in an extensive search for a missing grey backpack, which the assailant was seen wearing during the shooting, a senior law enforcement official told CNN.
Police initiated the search after detectives reviewed security footage of the suspect no longer wearing the backpack after leaving Central Park through the West 77th street exit.
- CNN with RNZ