The suspect who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown hotel may have left a message on the bullets he used to kill the executive Wednesday morning, according to police sources.
The NYPD is investigating the possible message — which appears to include the words “deny,” “depose” and “defend” — written on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the masked assassin after he shot Thompson, 50, several times at about 6:46 a.m. before fleeing, the sources said.
Cops had recovered three live 9-millimeter rounds and three discharged casings in front of the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue, where Thompson, of Minnesota, was set to host an investors’ conference, police officials said.
Sources said several of the pieces of evidence each contained one word, indicating the shooter may have been trying to leave a message.
The masked gunman used a silencer and appeared to be an experienced shooter based on surveillance footage obtained by The Post.
But he may have made some major mistakes that could help investigators easily identify him.
He stopped at a nearby Starbucks before the killing and tossed his coffee cup in a trash can — which cops dug out of the trash and now have as evidence, according to sources.
And investigators also discovered a phone in an alleyway near the Hilton which they believe belongs to the killer, the sources said.
A manhunt for the suspect is underway and the NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for information.
