*

Suspect's backpack found discarded in Central Park, CNN

reports

*

Police release suspect photos, offer $10,000 reward for

information

*

Security tightened at UnitedHealth ( UNH ), other insurers after

attack

*

Shell casings found with words linked to book critical of

insurance industry

(Adds CNN report that backpack was found, paragraph 3)

By Rich McKay and Daniel Trotta

Dec 6 (Reuters) - New York City police believe the man

who fatally shot a UnitedHealth ( UNH ) top executive has left

the city, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Friday, as

the hunt for the gunman passed the crucial 48-hour mark.

Brian Thompson, 50, the CEO of UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) insurance

unit, was shot in the back on Wednesday in what police described

as a targeted attack. Police have released multiple photos of

the suspect - who fled the scene, climbed on an electric bicycle

and disappeared into Central Park - and have asked the public

for help in tracking him down.

Police on Friday recovered what they believe to be the

suspect's backpack in Central Park, CNN reported on Friday,

citing unnamed police sources. The discarded backpack,

potentially loaded with evidence, was missed on a first pass but

found on a subsequent, expanded search through the 843-acre

(341-hectare) park, CNN said.

Tisch said in an interview with CNN on Friday that

authorities now believe he has left New York City, after new

video emerged showing him arriving at the city's main bus

terminal.

New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny,

in the same interview, said the video shows the suspect climbing

into a taxi that took him to the Port Authority bus station.

"We have video of him entering the Port Authority Bus

Terminal. We don't have any video of him exiting so we believe

he may have gotten on a bus," Kenny said. "Those buses are

interstate buses. That's why we believe he may have left New

York City."

The expanded hunt comes after security experts cautioned

that the first 48 hours after such a crime are the best window

of opportunity to catch a gunman, a timeframe that has now

passed.

"The clock is running," said Felipe Rodriguez, a former NYPD

police detective and an adjunct professor at the John Jay

College of Criminal Justice.

Rodriguez said solving the case is like putting together a

difficult jigsaw puzzle.

"You start from edges first and work your way in, but right

now they might not have all the pieces. But the case is moving

forward," he said.

PHOTOS AND CLUES

Police believe the suspect arrived in New York 10 days

before the shooting on a Greyhound bus that originated in

Atlanta and checked into a Manhattan youth hostel using a fake

ID from New Jersey, several media outlets reported. Reuters has

not independently verified this account.

Police offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to

an arrest and conviction.

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) is the largest U.S. health insurer, providing

benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for

healthcare than people in any other country.

Thompson joined UnitedHealth ( UNH ) in 2004 and became the CEO of

UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ), in April 2021.

Following the attack, UnitedHealth ( UNH ) and several other health

insurers including CVS Health ( CVS ) and Centene ( CNC ) took

down pictures of executives from their corporate websites in an

apparent tightening of security measures.

Centene ( CNC ) said late on Thursday it would no longer hold an

in-person investor day next week, and that the event would be

streamed.

The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were carved into

shell casings found at the scene, police sources told several

media outlets. A New York City Police Department spokesperson

would not comment on the report.

The words evoke the title of Jay Feinman's 2010 book

critical of the insurance industry "Delay Deny Defend: Why

Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About

It."

Feinman, a professor emeritus at Rutgers University Law

School, declined to comment.

Detectives believe the perpetrator was experienced with

firearms based on how he slowly and deliberately carried out the

shooting, CNN reported, citing police sources who spoke on the

condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Security video showed the shooter, wearing a hooded

sweatshirt, ski mask and a gray backpack, walking up behind

Thompson, raising his handgun fitted with a silencer and firing

at his back. Police said the gunman arrived outside the hotel

several minutes before Thompson and waited for him to walk past

before firing, ignoring other passers-by.

Before the report about the backpack, CNN, whose reporter

John Miller is a former NYPD deputy commissioner, said police

found a phone in an alley that the gunman ran through and also

recovered a water bottle the shooter bought just minutes before

the attack.

A fingerprint on the water bottle was too smudged to provide

further clues about the shooter, the New York Times reported,

citing a senior law enforcement official.