Bombshell lead in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's assassination as cops learn key fact about suspect

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has implied that police might have identified the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killer - but they're not releasing his name yet. 

When asked on Saturday whether investigators knew the mystery gunman's name, Adams said: 'We don't want to release that now,' according to the New York Post.  

'If we do, we are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all,' the former NYPD captain added. 

'Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask. We revealed his face. We're going to reveal who he is and we're going to bring him to justice... The net is tightening.'

The mayor's cryptic comments came on Saturday, three days after the shooter gunned down Brian Thompson, 50, the CEO of America's biggest health insurer.

When pressed on Sunday morning about whether police knew the identity of the suspect, NYPD told DailyMail.com: 'There have been no updates on the case.' 

Authorities are investigating the Midtown Manhattan incident as an assassination, while the hunt for the mystery assailant continues beyond New York state lines. 

The NYPD released new photographs of the assassin Saturday night. He has been described as white and around 6'1' tall, but scarce other details have been given. 

Police said the killer shot Thompson in the back and leg outside the New York Hilton Midtown on West 54th Street at around 6.45am on Wednesday. 

The attacker is believed to have used a rare World War Two era-inspired 9mm gun, which the New York Post reported was a Swiss-made Brugger & Thomet VP9. 

Ammunition found near Thompson's body bore the words 'delay,' 'deny' and 'depose', mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics. 

The killer fled the scene by riding an electric bike up 6th Avenue towards Central Park, and he was spotted leaving the park at 6.56am. 

The latest images of the killer appear to have been taken inside the taxi which picked him up on 86th Street and Columbus Avenue two minutes after he left Central Park. 

Retracing the gunman's steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus around 45 minutes after the shooting. 

He was seen on video at an uptown bus station, according to NYPD chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.

With the search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late on Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

This comes on top of a reward of up to $10,000 dollars offered by the NYPD. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.

Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information. 

They include Thompson's family and co-workers, and the gunman's randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed.

'This isn't Blue Bloods. We're not going to solve this in 60 minutes,' Kenny told reporters on Friday. 

'We're painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across.'

The gunman paid cash at the hostel, presented what police believe was a fake ID and is believed to have paid cash for taxi rides and other transactions. 

He did not speak to others at the hostel and almost always kept his face covered with a mask, only lowering it while eating.

But investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment in which he briefly showed his face soon after arriving in New York on November 24.

Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far have not been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said.

On Friday evening, investigators found a backpack in Central Park that had been worn by the gunman, police said. 

They did not immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed.

Another potential clue, a fingerprint on an item he purchased at a Starbucks minutes before the shooting, has not produced any leads, Kenny said.

UnitedHealthcare's disturbing track record of rejecting claims has come under the spotlight since the shooting. 

The company was being probed by the Department of Justice for alleged antitrust violations, while its parent company, UnitedHealthcare Group (UHG), has come under fire from angry protesters who claim the insurer refused to cover their care.

UHG is the nation's largest health insurance conglomerate. The company expected to bring in revenues of $450 billion in 2025, with Thompson believed to earn a salary in the region of $10million a year.

Thompson, who had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare since April 2021, was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition after the shooting, and he was later pronounced dead. 

Flags flew at half-mast at the UnitedHealthcare headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota on Wednesday following the slaying of the executive. 

He is survived by his wife Paulette 'Pauley' Thompson, 51, and their two children who live in the family's $1.5 million home in Maple Grove, Minnesota.