A chilling photo shows a suspected gunman grinning widely while supposedly “flirting” with a hostel clerk days before he calmly executed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown hotel Wednesday.
The photo — the first to show the alleged masked assassin’s full face — was released by the NYPD Thursday as a desperate manhunt for the cold-blooded killer led authorities to an Upper West Side youth hostel, where they believe he stayed before the shocking killing.
The gunman, who checked into the HI New York City Hostel with a fake New Jersey ID, only pulled down his mask because he was “flirting” with the receptionist and she asked to see his face, law enforcement sources told The Post.
NYPD officers and FBI agents searched the hostel on Amsterdam Avenue after video captured the suspect in the area around 5 a.m. Wednesday, about an hour before he’s believed to have fired repeatedly at Thompson, 50, as the CEO walked up to the Sixth Avenue luxury hotel, sources said.
The search and potential link to the slaying rattled residents of the HI New York City Hostel, such as Ignacio Heck, a 31-year-old software engineer from Chile, who didn’t know he may have crossed paths with a killer until he spoke with The Post Thursday.
“Oh damn!” he said. “Of course I’m scared, but at least the police were here. It’s a safe place and I’m leaving tomorrow.”
The suspect checked into the hostel on Nov. 30 using the fake ID, sources told The Post.
The hostel’s surveillance images of him were taken around that time, sources said.
The images show the suspect flash a smile, with a black mask — similar to the face covering worn by the shooter outside the Hilton hotel — hanging from his chin.
He also wore the same dark hoodie and gray backpack as the shooter, who was captured in disturbing surveillance video calmly firing gunshot after gunshot at Thompson.
A search of a hostel room rented by the suspect had yielded nothing of note as of Thursday afternoon, sources said.
Cops were inside the hostel around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, said John Nielsen, a tourist from Denmark.
He believes the suspect stayed in a shared room with four to six other people — and that he talked to one of the killer’s roommates.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.
- The methodical killer used a firearm with a silencer outside the Hilton hotel along Sixth Avenue.
- The gunman fired at Thompson multiple times, striking his back and right calf before fleeing on foot.
- The NYPD released a new photo of the hooded suspect standing in front of the counter at the Starbucks at West 56th Street and 6th Avenue, just minutes from the Hilton hotel where he gunned down Thompson, 50.
- Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice.
- Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband had been getting threats before he was killed.
- The NYPD is investigating a possible message — which appears to include the words “deny,” “depose” and “defend” — engraved on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the masked assassin.
Follow along with The Post’s live updates on the news surrounding Brian Thompson’s murder.
“They tried to get into the room but they couldn’t because the police said no,” he said.
“Some kind of investigation so they were pretty shocked because they shared a room with that person who could be pretty bad.”
Danielle Brumfitt Norris, vice president of Hostelling International USA, which runs the hostel, declined to comment.
“We are fully cooperating with the NYPD and, as this is an active investigation, cannot comment at this time,” she said.
The growing trove of images came as investigators tracked down other leads in their manhunt, notably the purchase of a rare spy gun in Connecticut that appears similar to the silencer-equipped pistol used by the shooter.
