Unitedheathcare shooter backpack theory analyzed by security expert
A security expert has analyzed the theory that the UnitedHealthcare shooter had a second backpack with a change of clothes, saying it would be the “easiest thing in the world” and allow the him to transform into a “different person.”
On Wednesday morning, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The shooter then fled into Central Park and remains at large.
On Thursday, authorities released two images of a suspect captured on CCTV footage. It has been noted that the color of the his backpack and hoodie were different in the two pictures.
As result, an online theory is suggesting that the suspect had two backpacks, one inside the other, and some clothes, which he changed into in Central Park when out of sight of security cameras.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Appearing on Fox Live News, former DEA agent and founder of Global Security Group David Katz weighed in on the theory, saying that people online were “not making a mistake” in identifying the color discrepancies between the backpack and hoodie.
“He proceeded northbound to the park [after the shooting],” Katz said of the suspect. “Easiest thing in the world—you go into the park, you are out of sight, no cameras on you. You take your outer clothing off, you swap it. You take the bag off. Inside the bag let’s say you have another bag. You put all clothing and the bag in there, you walk out and you’re a different person.”
Katz said that law enforcement would use security footage from across the city to track the shooters’ movements.
As new details about the case emerge, police revealed that the suspect used a fake ID to check into the AYH Hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side before the killing. He paid in cash.
The suspect allegedly flashed a smile and flirted with a female staffer at the hostel.
Katz said that a hostel would have been preferable to the shooter as he could pay the bill in cash, compared with a hotel that would require a major credit card.
Newsweek has emailed Global Security Group for comment.
Thompson died at around 6.45 a.m. as he walked to UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference at the Hilton on Wednesday morning. A gunman stepped out and shot him in the back and right calf. His face was partially obscured by a mask during the shooting.
At one point his 9 mm pistol jammed, but he fixed it and continued to fire before fleeing into the park.
The shooter visited a Starbucks shortly before the killing and arrived at the hotel five minutes before Thompson.
The motive for the killing is unknown.
The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were written on bullet casings found at the scene of the shooting.
In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the investigation was moving at a “steady pace” and that law enforcement would soon “have someone apprehended.”
