A man with a gun thought to be similar to the one used in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief Brian Thompson was taken into police custody for questioning on Monday, an official told The Associated Press.
The man is being held in the area of Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 233 miles (375 kilometres) west of New York City, the official said.
The NYPD is sending detectives to Pennsylvania to question the person taken into custody and New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected to address this development at an afternoon press briefing in Manhattan.
Divers have been searching a pond for three days near where police found a discarded backpack believed to belong to the gunman (Yuki Iwamura/AP)
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
The gunman appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching the executive from behind and opening fire, NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
He used a 9mm pistol, which police said resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise.
In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of photos and video — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.
Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.
The NYPD issued this photograph, taken from CCTV footage inside a taxi, showing the suspect in the shooting of Brian Thompson (NYPD via AP)
Ammunition found near Mr Thompson’s body bore the words “delay”, “deny” and “depose”, mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics.
Investigators have been combing the park since Wednesday’s shooting and have been searching at least one of its ponds for three days, looking for evidence that may have been thrown into it.
On Friday, police found a backpack in the park that they say the killer discarded as he fled from the crime scene outside the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan to an uptown bus station, where they suspect he left the city on a bus.
But they had not yet found the gun or the gunman, nor had they identified him by name.
On Monday, K-9 units sniffed leaf-covered planters between walking paths in Central Park near where police found the backpack.
The FBI is offering a reward of 50,000 dollars and the NYPD is offering 10,000 dollars for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the man who shot Brian Thompson in New York City (New York City Police Department via AP)
Farther along the path that police suspect he took through the park after the shooting, scuba divers geared up and started searching a pond for the third straight day.
Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, investigators say he fled into Central Park on a bicycle at 60th Street and Centre Drive, emerged from the park without his backpack at 77th Street and Central Park West and then ditched the bicycle about 7am near 85th Street.
He then walked a couple of blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at 7.30am at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, NYPD chief of detectives Joseph Kenny said.
The FBI announced late on Friday that it was offering a 50,000 dollar (£39,000) reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to 10,000 dollars (£7,800) that the NYPD has offered.
Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.
This image provided by the New York City Police Department shows the suspect sought in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief Brian Thompson (New York City Police Department via AP)
Late on Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspect that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi.
The first shows him outside of the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab.
In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue mask.