Eyes, not tech, led police to suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO [Video]

NEW YORK – In the end, it was the simple act of distributing photos – not sophisticated facial recognition technology – that led police to the man who has been charged in the fatal shooting of a health care executive in midtown Manhattan last week.

After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec 4, the New York Police Department began releasing a steady drip of images. The photos, taken together, appeared to show a young man with light skin and dark features. One photo – crucially – showed his entire face.

Even as police recovered what they called an “enormous amount” of forensic evidence and video, it was that specific photo that led to the arrest of a man on the morning of Dec 9 about 480km from New York City, according to Chief Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives.

Just after 9am on Dec 9, in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, a customer remarked that …