UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect’s movements: A timeline of before, during, after the shooting
Police released photos of a suspect sought in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. NYPD
(NEW YORK) — The unidentified man suspected of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson remains at large after the “brazen, targeted” shooting outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Wednesday, police said.
Here is a timeline of the suspect’s whereabouts before, during and after the shooting:
Nov. 24
The killer entered New York City by bus on Nov. 24, when a surveillance camera at Port Authority Bus Terminal caught his arrival at 9 p.m., law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The inbound bus originated in Atlanta but it was not immediately clear where the suspect boarded.
He likely checked into a hostel on New York City’s Upper West Side that day and later checked out, sources said.
Nov. 30
The suspect likely checked back into the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side on Nov. 30, sources said.
Dec. 4 at 5 a.m.
At 5 a.m., nearly two hours before the shooting, the suspect was seen in surveillance footage outside the hostel on the Upper West Side, holding what appears to be an e-bike battery.
6:15 a.m.
At 6:15 a.m., surveillance footage reviewed by police shows someone who appears to be the suspect leaving a 57th Street subway station near the crime scene, police sources told ABC News.
Before the shooting
Sometime before the shooting, the suspect is spotted at a Starbucks. The exact time is not clear.
6:29 a.m.
The suspect appeared to walk past a parking lot on West 54th Street at 6:29 a.m. — across the street some 50 meters from the site of the shooting.
6:44 a.m.
At 6:44 a.m., the masked gunman fatally shot Brian Thompson in front of the north entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown.
“The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. “It appears that the gun malfunctions, as he clears the jam and begins to fire again.”
The shooter fled on foot into an alley, where a phone believed to be linked to the suspect was later recovered, police sources said.
Time unknown
The suspect then fled north on a bike and rode into Central Park, police said.
6:59 a.m.
A person appearing to be the suspect was seen just before 7 a.m. on the Upper West Side. He was riding a bicycle away from Central Park, heading west on 85th Street. He no longer had a backpack on.
Ninety-two people remain unaccounted for in hard-hit North Carolina in the wake of the “catastrophic disaster” left behind by Hurricane Helene, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.
The number will continue to fluctuate as new reports come in and other reports are resolved, Cooper said.
This comes as North Carolina continues to face “a persistent and dangerous flow of misinformation” about recovery efforts, the governor said.
“If you’re participating in spreading this stuff, stop it,” Cooper said. “Whatever your aim is, the people you are really hurting are those in western North Carolina who need help. The safety of our government and volunteer response workers, including FEMA, remains a top priority. “
The governor said he’s directed the state’s Department of Public Safety to “coordinate law enforcement assistance for FEMA and other responders who need it to help assure their safety and security, so people can keep getting the help that they desperately need.”
This weekend, a Bostic, North Carolina, man armed with a handgun and rifle was arrested for allegedly threatening to harm workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the state, authorities said.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell did not address the arrest at Tuesday’s news conference, but she said, “Over the weekend, out of an abundance of caution, we made operational changes to keep FEMA personnel safe, but none of the changes we made impacted ongoing search and rescue or other life safety operations.”
“It’s heartbreaking to see words or acts of hatred toward anyone, let alone federal responders who are here to help people in this critical time,” Criswell said.
“We are not going anywhere,” she said. “Misinformation will not deter us from our mission.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted Thursday to approve new rules requiring all wireless carriers to implement georouting for calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in a move it says will help “save more lives.”
“Time and again, across many different communities, I have heard stories of how important the 988 Lifeline is for individuals in need of support,” Commissioner Anna Gomez said during the FCC’s Thursday meeting. “Today we affirm the experiences of these individuals and take steps to enhance the lifesaving capability of this service.”
“Doing everything we can to ensure that individuals in a crisis can receive the support they need saves lives and is simply good policy,” she added.
When a person calls 988, that call is routed to one of the Lifeline’s 200-plus crisis centers around the United States. The new rules will require carriers to route calls based on where the call was placed, allowing for a more localized response. Since the three-digit number launched in July 2022, it has been using area code-based call routing.
“This is a mismatch I have long believed we should fix — and I believe we can save more lives if we do so,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said during the Thursday meeting. “Because if we get more people connected to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, to resources that are local, we can help more people with more meaningful assistance in more places.”
Rosenworcel explained that when the original 10-digit Lifeline number was created in 2005, most calls came in on landlines, so area code routing made sense. Now, she said, almost 80% of calls come from cellphones, creating the need for georouting to provide localized care.
Advocates have called for georouting to be implemented for years, saying callers would benefit from localized follow-up care, though there have been some concerns about caller privacy. Under the new georouting system, calls will be routed based on the location of the cell tower that originates the call, as opposed to the precise location of the caller — a move meant to protect privacy, according to the FCC.
The order passed Thursday only requires georouting for phone calls to the Lifeline. There is currently no requirement for text contacts to the Lifeline to be georouted. However, the FCC also voted to propose and begin seeking comments on a rule that would require georouting for texts.
Phone calls accounted for about 72% of contacts to the Lifeline for the month of August, according to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration data. Texts accounted for about 19% of August contacts. The remaining contacts come from web-based chat services, the data showed.
“We’re not going to stop working to improve the Lifeline until everyone gets access to the local help and resources that they need,” Rosenworcel said.
Last month, wireless carriers Verizon and T-Mobile implemented voluntary georouting for 988 calls placed on their networks — a move that accounted for about half of all calls to the Lifeline, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Around 80% of calls to the 988 Lifeline are done through wireless phones, and many people have phone numbers with different area codes from where they live, work or visit,” T-Mobile President of Technology Ulf Ewaldsson said at the time. “Georouting ensures that those seeking help will reach the available crisis center nearest their location for support. It’s about making sure help is there when and where it’s needed most.”
All national carriers will have 30 days to implement georouting for their 988 calls. Smaller providers will have 24 months.
Since the 988 launch, the Lifeline has fielded more than 10 million contacts.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
(NEW YORK) — Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide for the death of Jordan Neely by the jury on Monday.
The jury deliberated for more than 24 hours across five days before reaching the verdict.
The courtroom broke out in a mix of cheers and jeers as soon as the verdict was read.
Jordan Neely’s father cursed in anger shortly after the verdict and was forcibly removed from the courtroom by a court officer. Others in the gallery shouted, and one woman broke down to tears.
“It’s a small world, buddy,” one man shouted.
“No justice in this racist f—— country,” said another.
Penny, walking out of the courtroom, flashed a brief smile before returning to his stone-faced demeanor. His lawyers embraced one another while seated at counsel table.
The jury in the Penny trial continued deliberations Monday over whether he committed criminally negligent homicide when he placed Neely in a chokehold on a subway car last year, after the jury was deadlocked on the more serious charge of manslaughter last week.
At the request of prosecutors on Friday, Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed the second-degree manslaughter charge – which carried a maximum 15-year sentence – and directed the jury to turn to the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which has a four-year maximum sentence. Neither crime has a minimum sentence. Penny pleaded not guilty to both charges.
“What that means is you are now free to consider count two. Whether that makes any difference or not, I have no idea,” Wiley said before sending the jury home for the weekend.
Prosecutors allege that Penny killed Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man who had previously been a Michael Jackson impersonator, when he placed him in a six-minute-long chokehold on a subway car in May 2023, holding Neely for at least 51 seconds after his body went limp. Assistant district attorney Dafna Yoran argued Penny knew his actions could kill Neely but continued to hold him in a chokehold for “way too long” and “didn’t recognize his humanity.”
The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely. The defense argued Neely died from a genetic condition and the synthetic marijuana found in his system.
Defense attorney Steven Raiser told jurors that Penny “acted to save” subway passengers from a “violent and desperate” Neely, who was acting erratically and “scared the living daylights out of everybody.” Raiser argued that Neely was fighting back, and Penny continued to hold on because he feared he would break free, though he didn’t intend to kill Neely.
Wiley denied a new motion for a mistrial made Monday morning by Penny’s defense lawyers, who argued that the dismissal of the manslaughter charge would influence the jury’s verdict.
“There is no way to cure the legal error that we believe very strongly happened on Friday, and we are renewing our motion for a mistrial on the remaining count two,” said Thomas Kenniff, who said the dismissal could result in a “coercive verdict.”
Wiley disagreed, promptly denying the motion like he did on Friday when the defense unsuccessfully argued twice for a mistrial.
To prevent the possibility of influencing the jury, Wiley proposed issuing a new instruction to the jury explicitly stating that the court is “not directing you to any particular verdict.”
Wiley also offered to give the jury an instruction to ignore chants from protesters outside the courthouse – including “Justice for Jordan Neely,” “Daniel Penny subway stranger” and “If we don’t get no justice, they don’t get no peace” – which the defense team declined because it might bring more attention to the chants.
For now, the chants have quieted down, and they are no longer audible in court. If they resume, Judge Wiley said he would consider delivering an instruction or moving the jury to another deliberation room.
Last week, the jury spent more than 23 hours across four days deliberating whether Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine and architecture student, committed second degree manslaughter before repeatedly signaling that they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Wiley ultimately granted prosecutors’ request to dismiss the first count while Penny’s defense attorneys unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial, arguing that continued deliberations could lead to a “coercive or a compromised verdict” by “elbowing” jurors to convict on the lesser charge.
Manslaughter would have required proving that Penny acted recklessly and grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would behave, while proving criminally negligent homicide requires the jury to be convinced that Penny engaged in “blameworthy conduct” that he did not consider would lead to the risk of death.
Outside court, protesters and counter protesters have assembled, with “say his name” chants slightly audible in the 13th floor courtroom. As Penny entered the courthouse this morning, he was met with competing chants of “murderer” and “not guilty.”
