The NYPD has released 2 photos of a man they call a "person of interest" in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ... and the man bears a striking similarity to the killer.
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00:00As we talk to you right now, it appears that authorities in New York City are closing in on the assassin who murdered the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, yesterday on the streets of New York in the Midtown area.
00:17They are closing in on him, so by the time some of you see this, he may have been caught, but we know they are looking.
00:27Yes, and this has been a citywide manhunt. We know that they are, again, as we speak now, they're looking in the Upper West Side is where police think that they will find this man, but they've also now released new images of him because we hadn't seen his full face before.
00:48And now we see pretty much his full face.
00:50Obviously, police believe they've identified who this person is, though they haven't released a name, and they say these images, the thing you're going to notice, obviously, different hoodie, different backpack, but look at the nose.
01:06I mean, the nose is pretty distinctive, and there's a reason the NYPD has released these new images showing a full face. They are looking for this guy.
01:15It appears to be the same person, somebody who may have changed, and again, we don't know if the picture, if this is the guy, if that was taken before or after the murder.
01:26We're not sure of that.
01:27Yeah, the police have not said. Really, they just want as many people to see this face because they're hoping to get a tip that's going to help them pinpoint where this person is in the city.
01:37Now, they have closed in on a hostel on the Upper West Side, which they raided today. They did not find him there.
01:46They spoke to people who were there and hoping to find some information about where he may have gone.
01:53Now, it's interesting that just hours after the murder, Brian Thompson's house was the target of a pipe bomb email that was sent saying that there was a pipe bomb at his home.
02:09The authorities went out to his home, and this is in Minnesota. They did not find a pipe bomb, but they went to his estranged wife's home.
02:19We say estranged because we found out that…
02:22They have been living separately for years now.
02:25For years, but live a couple of blocks away from each other.
02:27Right, and the police in Minnesota went out to the home just to make sure that this was not a credible threat.
02:37But they did say something interesting. They did say something interesting. They went out to the wife's home, Paulette.
02:42Paulette, apparently, and a couple of other people inside that house said that somebody in a Jeep drove up and put something in her mailbox the size of a cell phone, and that was just kind of odd.
02:57Yeah, that's like the scariest part. The security around those homes, because it's obviously a wealthy neighborhood, said that someone put that cell phone-sized envelope in the mailbox, but they had canine units come out, checked the mailbox.
03:08They spoke with everyone who was in the vicinity. They said they hadn't received direct threats.
03:12This threat went to a city attorney initially, so they hadn't been directly threatened, and nothing came of it, but the timing is obvious. It was just hours after the assassination.
03:22Right, and I think that part feels like once his name had been out there, because obviously the shooting happened early Wednesday morning, and once his name was out there, this may be just people reacting, people who are angry about the health care system, health insurance system.
03:38And we're going to get into that in a little bit.
03:40But as far as the threats, there had been threats, apparently, according to his estranged wife, Paulette.
03:46Although this is odd.
03:47This is what she said to NBC News. Speaking of Brian, she said there had been some threats, basically. I don't know. A lack of coverage? I don't know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.
04:03See, the weird thing is-
04:04That she doesn't know the specifics?
04:05Yeah, it's like, what we don't know, and maybe it just wasn't covered in the report, but if I said to you, I'm being threatened, you would say-
04:13First question is, who's threatening you?
04:14Who's threatening you?
04:15But if you don't know, then maybe you say, look, it's just-
04:18Go back to the statement. I agree with you. But then she would not say, I just don't know. She would say, he doesn't know.
04:26I don't know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.
04:31Because you would ask the follow-up questions.
04:33Well, it's possible their relationship wasn't very strong. They were living separately. Maybe they didn't have advanced discussions about-
04:39They are living separately.
04:40But they're a couple of blocks away. They have a minor child. They seem to be interacting because she's mentioning this.
04:48Although they're separated, like you said, they're just a couple blocks away.
04:50It's just weird to me that you would say, well, he doesn't know who it is, as opposed to, I just don't know. That's odd to me.
04:57Well, police are looking into all of that as well. They've said that they've contacted UnitedHealthcare to find out about any threats,
05:05whether it be from actual people who are being insured by UnitedHealthcare-
05:12Or anybody.
05:13Or disgruntled ex-employees. They're looking into all of that.
05:16The bullet casings. This is so interesting. There were things etched on these casings that I think provide a real clue here.
05:25Right. The words that were on three of the bullets or shell casings were deny, depose, and defend.
05:36One, that there was anything written on shell casings. That immediately makes you go, well, this is a message someone's trying to send, is what you would immediately think.
05:45But those specific words immediately reminded people of a book about health insurance.
05:55Well, delay, deny, defend.
05:57Why insurance companies don't pay claims and what you can do about it.
06:02By an author by the name of Jay Fineman, who is a professor at Rutgers Law School, who, by the way, I went to law school with.
06:11And when I ended up teaching law school, he was one of the guys who came down with me from the law school we graduated from to go down to the University of Miami.
06:20So when did he write this book? When did it come out?
06:22I don't know the year, but-
06:25It just seems like a weird coincidence.
06:28Well, I don't know the exact year, but delay, deny, defend is the business model of insurance companies that people often decry.
06:35It's the mantra.
06:36It is the mantra that people say. So he was quoting that when he made the book.
06:39And the point being that they do a lot of damage to America by denying health care, delaying coverage, people dying as a result,
06:51which we're going to get into again in a few minutes about why there are a lot of people who aren't just mourning, but aren't mourning, but they're celebrating the murder of Brian Thompson.
07:04And we're going to get into the dynamic there because it is fascinating.
07:08Yeah, it really is. But as of now, police still trying to find the person who pulled the trigger here.
07:14Hey, I'm Thelma Louise from Las Vegas, Nevada. And guys, I completely agree with this story. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder by the moment.
07:23And it just lets me know that there has to be multiple people involved in order for the bomb squad to be called to this man's home just hours after his assassination attempt.
07:33But I'm standing ten toes down on the fact that there has to be multiple people involved in wanting to go after this man.