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Police in the US hunting for the man who shot dead United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York street have found money from the Monopoly board game inside a backpack they believe the gunman used.

Two knowledgeable sources told NBC News, Sky News’ US partner, that the fake bank notes were discovered in the bag, which police found in Central Park after Mr Thompson was killed on Wednesday.

Police still have no idea of the gunman’s name or whereabouts or his motive for the killing but believe the man likely took a bus out of New York soon after the brazen ambush.

Top CEO shot dead outside hotel in New York City
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Brian Thompson was shot dead in New York City. Pic: AP

On Friday, detectives found the backpack in the park, but no weapon has been recovered from it or from other searches carried out by officers, two senior law enforcement officials close to the investigation told NBC News.

Their enquiries, though, remain very much ongoing and fluid, they said.

Other sources familiar with the case told NBC a jacket was found inside the bag, but it is unclear if it is the one worn at time of the shooting.

A New York City Police officer walks through brush and foliage in Central Park near 64th Street and Central Park West, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in New York, while searching for a backpack police believe was dropped in the park by the person suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
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A New York City Police officer searches in Central Park. Pic: AP

NYPD officers have returned to Central Park to search near where the backpack was found and also in wooded sections and fountain areas for other evidence, according to three sources who spoke to NBC.

Atlanta, from where the gunman travelled to New York by bus, is one focus of the investigation, with detectives searching for video from that bus station and others along the Greyhound Bus route, three sources close to the investigation told NBC.

Mr Thompson, head of the US’s largest health insurer, was gunned down outside his company’s annual investor meeting at a hotel near to Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Centre in midtown Manhattan.

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Healthcare boss gunned down

The attacker was then filmed walking up slowly behind Mr Thompson and opening fire outside the Hilton hotel.
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The attacker was filmed walking up behind Mr Thompson and opening fire outside the Hilton hotel. Pic: NYPD


Video found by detectives shows the man riding a bicycle into the park and later taking a taxi to a bus station from where he could travel to New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington DC, according to the city’s chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny.

Read more:
New clues in hunt for gunman
Backpack found in search for New York shooter
Gunman filmed moments before shooting

Otherwise, the gunman hid his identity with a mask during almost all of his time in the city, including during the attack and even while he ate.

On Friday, the FBI announced it was offering a $50,000 (£39,100) reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

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Colorado petrol bomb suspect charged with 16 counts of attempted murder

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Colorado petrol bomb suspect charged with 16 counts of attempted murder

The suspect in the Colorado petrol bomb attack has been charged with 16 counts of attempted murder.

Mohamed Soliman is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails and using a makeshift flamethrower on a group of people at a rally in support of Israeli hostages – with the FBI describing the incident as a targeted “act of terrorism”.

The 45-year-old, from El Paso County, Colorado, shouted “Free Palestine” during the attack, it is alleged.

A total of 12 victims were injured and taken to hospitals, authorities said. One of those was at one point said to be in a critical condition.

A federal criminal complaint (court filing) said Soliman confessed to the attack, told investigators that he had planned it for a year, said he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead”, and that “he would do it again”.

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Suspect ‘throws Molotov cocktails’ into crowd

At a press conference on Monday evening, 20th judicial district attorney Michael Dougherty said “Boulder is a beautiful and special place, but we’re not immune from mass violence or hate crimes” as he explained the charges against Soliman.

He said that the suspect faces 16 counts of attempted murder in the first-degree, with eight of those for attempted murder with intent and after deliberation, meaning he had time to consider his crimes.

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Topless attack suspect holds bottles

The other eight counts relate to attempted murder with extreme indifference, meaning he acted without regard to others’ lives.

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Soliman is also charged with eight counts of first-degree assault, two counts of use of an incendiary device, and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device.

If convicted on all charges pursued by the state prosecutor, and if they run consecutively, Soliman faces a maximum sentence of 624 years in prison.

Mr Dougherty added that the US attorney’s office “will be prosecuting the hate crime against the defendant,” which relates to the federal crime of causing bodily injury because of actual or perceived race, colour, religion, or national origin.

Suspect appears in court

After the press conference, Soliman made his first appearance in court, appearing via web link from Boulder County Jail.

A view of the Colorado Judicial Branch's livestream of Mohamed Soliman's first appearance in court. Pic: Colorado Judicial Branch
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Pic: Colorado Judicial Branch

During the brief hearing, Judge Nancy Salomone asked the suspect if received the protection order issued by the court preventing him from contacting the victims, to which he said “yes”.

She then said she will see legal representatives on Thursday for the filing of the charges.

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Colorado suspect ‘said he wanted to kill all Zionist people’ and ‘planned attack for a year’

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Colorado suspect 'said he wanted to kill all Zionist people' and 'planned attack for a year'

The suspect in the Colorado attack told investigators he planned it for a year and said he wanted to “kill all Zionist people”, it is claimed.

Mohamed Soliman is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails and using a makeshift flamethrower on a group of people at a rally in support of Israeli hostages – with the FBI describing the incident as a targeted “act of terrorism”.

The 45-year-old, from El Paso County, Colorado, yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, it is alleged.

Soliman has been charged with the federal crime of causing bodily injury because of actual or perceived race, colour, religion, or national origin. Authorities said they would announce further charges later on Monday.

Four women and four men, aged between 52 and 88, were injured and taken to hospitals. One victim is in a critical condition and others were seriously hurt, authorities said.

Police mugshot of suspect Mohamed Soliman. Pic: Boulder Police Dept.
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Suspect Mohamed Soliman. Pic: Boulder Police Department

In a federal criminal complaint, investigators said Soliman confessed to the attack and told them that he had planned it for a year.

The alleged attacker said he researched on YouTube how to make Molotov cocktails – an improvised bomb made from a bottle filled with petrol and stuffed with a piece of cloth to use as a fuse, it was claimed.

He allegedly made them before driving to Boulder, Colorado, to carry out the attack on the weekly demonstration, where people were calling for release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Soliman told investigators he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead”, and “he would do it (conduct an attack) again”, according to the criminal complaint.

The suspect said he had been planning the attack for a year, and was waiting until after his daughter graduated to carry it out, it was alleged.

Unlit Molotov cocktails found near scene

According to the federal complaint, officers found a black plastic container with a yellow top near where Soliman was arrested, containing “at least 14 unlit Molotov cocktails”.

Investigators said the projectiles were comprised of “glass wine carafe bottles or Ball jars,” and that near the container “was a backpack weed sprayer, potentially containing a flammable substance”.

It was later determined the liquid in both the bottles and weed sprayer was the flammable liquid xylene, the complaint said.

Mark Michalek, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, described the sprayer as a “makeshift flamethrower”.

Topless attack suspect holds bottles
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The suspect was seen clutching two glass bottles

Trump condemns ‘horrific’ attack

Law enforcement officials told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that Soliman is an Egyptian national who seemingly acted alone. They said he has no previous significant contact with law enforcement.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said Soliman was in the US “illegally”.

She posted on X: “He entered the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired on February 2023. He filed for asylum in September 2022.”

US President Donald Trump said the “horrific” attack in Boulder “will not be tolerated in the United States of America”.

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Police chief Steve Redfearn said the attack happened at around 1.26pm local time on Sunday and initial reports were that “people were being set on fire”.

“When we arrived we encountered multiple victims that were injured, with injuries consistent with burns,” Mr Redfearn said.

The attack happened as a “group of pro-Israel people” were peacefully demonstrating, police said.

The walk is held regularly by a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives, which aims to raise awareness of the hostages who remain in Gaza.

A bomb disposal robot with law enforcement on a Boulder street. Pic: AP
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A bomb disposal robot at the scene. Pic: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was praying for the full recovery of the people wounded in the “vicious terror attack” in Colorado.

“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” he said.

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US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat, said the attack was “horrifying” and “this cannot continue”, adding: “We must stand up to antisemitism.”

The attack follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC two weeks ago.

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Former Biden official Matthew Miller Israel has ‘without doubt’ committed war crimes in Gaza

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Former Biden official Matthew Miller Israel has 'without doubt' committed war crimes in Gaza

A senior official in former president Joe Biden’s administration has told Sky News that he has no doubt that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza. 

Speaking to the Trump 100 podcast, Matthew Miller, who, as a state department spokesman, was the voice and face of the US government’s foreign policy under Mr Biden, revealed disagreements, tensions and challenges within the former administration.

In the wide-ranging conversation, he said:

• It was “without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes”;
• That Israeli soldiers were not being “held accountable”;
• That there were “disagreements all along the way” about how to handle policy;
• And that he “would have wanted to have a better candidate” than Mr Biden for the 2024 election.

Mr Miller served as the state department spokesman from 2023 until the end of Mr Biden’s presidential term. From the podium, his job was to explain and defend foreign policy decisions – from Ukraine to Gaza.

“Look, one of the things about being a spokesperson is you’re not a spokesperson for yourself. You are a spokesperson for the president, the administration, and you espouse the positions of the administration. And when you’re not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions.”

Now out of office, he offered a candid reflection of a hugely challenging period in foreign policy and US politics.

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Miller: Israel ‘committed war crimes’

Gaza disagreements

Asked about Gaza, he revealed there were “small and big” disagreements within the Biden administration over the US-Israeli relationship.

“There were disagreements all along the way about how to handle policy. Some of those were big disagreements, some of those were little disagreements,” he said.

Pushed on rumours that then-secretary of state Antony Blinken had frustrations with Mr Biden over both Gaza and Ukraine policy, Mr Miller hinted at the tensions.

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“I’ll probably wait and let the secretary speak for himself… but I will say, speaking generally, look, it is true about every senior official in government that they don’t win every policy fight that they enter into. And what you do is you make your best case to the president.

“The administration did debate, at times, whether and when to cut off weapons to Israel. You saw us in the spring of 2024 stop the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel because we did not believe they would use those in a way that was appropriate in Gaza.”

Through the spring and summer of 2024, the Biden administration was caught between its bedrock policy of the unconditional defence of its ally Israel and the reality of what that ally was doing in Gaza, with American weapons.

Mr Mill said: “There were debates about whether to suspend other arms deliveries, and you saw at times us hold back certain arms while we negotiated the use of those arms…

“But we found ourselves in this really tough position, especially in that time period when it really came to a head… We were at a place where – I’m thinking of the way I can appropriately say this – the decisions and the thinking of Hamas leadership were not always secret to the United States and to our partners.”

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FILE - State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller during a news briefing at the State Department, July 18, 2023, in Washington.
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Matthew Miller during a news briefing at the state department in 2023. Pic: AP

He continued: “And it was clear to us in that period that there was a time when our public discussion of withholding weapons from Israel, as well as the protests on college campuses in the United States, and the movement of some European countries to recognise the state of Palestine – appropriate discussions, appropriate decisions – protests are appropriate – but all of those things together were leading the leadership of Hamas to conclude that they didn’t need to agree to a ceasefire, they just needed to hold out for a little bit longer, and they could get what they always wanted.”

“Now, the thing that I look back on, that I will always ask questions of myself about, and I think this is true for others in government, is in that intervening period between the end of May and the middle of January [2025], when thousands of Palestinians were killed, innocent civilians who didn’t want this war, had nothing to do with it, was there more that we could, could have done to pressure the Israeli government to agree to that ceasefire? I think at times there probably was,” Mr Miller said.

Asked for his view on the accusation of genocide in Gaza, he said: “I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes.”

Challenged on why he didn’t make these points while in government, he said: “When you’re at the podium, you’re not expressing your personal opinion. You’re expressing the conclusions of the United States government. The United States government had not concluded that they committed war crimes, still have not concluded [that].”

18 November 2024, Brazil, Rio De Janeiro: Anthony Blinken (l), US Secretary of State, and US President Joe Biden take part in the first work
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Anthony Blinken, left, with then US President Joe Biden. Pic: AP

He went on to offer a qualification to his accusation.

“There are two ways to think about the commission of war crimes,” he said.

“One is if the state has pursued a policy of deliberately committing war crimes or is acting recklessly in a way that aids and abets war crimes. Is the state committing war crimes?

“That, I think, is an open question. I think what is almost certainly not an open question is that there have been individual incidents that have been war crimes where Israeli soldiers, members of the Israeli military, have committed war crimes.”

The Israeli government continues to strongly deny all claims that it has committed war crimes in Gaza.

On Joe Biden’s election hopes

Mr Miller also offered a candid reflection on the suitability of Mr Biden as a candidate in the 2024 US election. While Mr Biden initially ran to extend his stay in the White House, he stepped aside, with Kamala Harris taking his place as the Democratic candidate.

“Had I not been inside the government, had I been outside the government acting kind of in a political role, of course, I would have wanted to have a better candidate,” he said.

“It’s that collective action problem where no one wants to be the first to speak out and stand up alone. You stand up by yourself and get your head chopped off, stand up together, you can take action.

“But there was never really a consensus position in the party, and there was no one that was willing to stand up and rally the party to say this isn’t going to work.

“I don’t think there is anyone on the White House staff, including the most senior White House staffers, who could have gone to Joe Biden in the spring of 2023 or at any time after that and told him: ‘Mr President, you are not able to do the duties of this job. And you will not win re-election.’ He would have rejected that outright.”

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Biden’s presidency in 60 seconds

The Trump presidency

On the Donald Trump presidency so far, he offered a nuanced view.

He described Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “an extremely capable individual” but expressed his worry that he was being manipulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I know the people in the Biden administration who worked with him during the first negotiations for Gaza ceasefire thought that he was capable.

“I think at times he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. And you see that especially in the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, where you see him go into a meeting with Vladimir Putin and come out spouting Russian propaganda… I think he would benefit from a little diplomatic savvy and some experienced diplomats around him.”

Pic:Sputnik/AP
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Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, left, with Vladimir Putin. Pic: Sputnik/AP

He continued: “But I do think it’s extremely important that when people sit down with an envoy of the United States they know that that envoy speaks for the President of the United States and it is very clear that Witkoff has that and that’s an extremely valuable asset to bring to the table.”

On the months and years ahead under Mr Trump, Mr Miller said: “The thing that worries me most is that Donald Trump may squander the position that the United States has built around the world over successive administrations of both parties over a course of decades.

“I don’t think most Americans understand the benefits that they get to their daily lives by the United States being the indispensable nation in the world.

“The open question is: will the damage that he’s doing be recoverable or not?”

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