The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were discovered by detectives on the shell casings found at the scene where Brian Thompson, the CEO of major insurance group UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down, police sources told ABC News late Wednesday evening.
According to police sources, the three words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” were carved into the live rounds and shell casings found outside the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, where Thompson, 50, was gunned down Wednesday morning.
Police sources confirmed the chilling message to ABC News and theNew York Post, adding that three live nine-millimeter rounds and three discharged nine-millimeter shell casings were recovered from the scene.
Several of the bullets were each inscribed with one of the three words, they added.
It is not clear what message the killer may have been trying to leave through the inscriptions, with the motive and the identity of the suspect still a mystery.
As of Thursday morning, no arrests have been made with the NYPD offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect.
Investigators are now honing in on the killer’s use of an e-bike to flee the scene, as well as a water bottle and cellphone he appears to have dropped as he fled.
