Well, what LSLGuy described better than I is what I was meaning. You’re trying to reduce the number of folks realizing that anything has happened, not eliminate it.
When they mentioned the Citi bike earlier, I assumed it was a burner phone employed to use their app. Now that it’s not clear what kind of bike he escaped on, and its claimed that there was a call on the phone shortly before, I am still assuming it’s a burner phone. They may be able to garner information from it, but if the shooter was anywhere near careful, probably not. If they could easily electronically link it to a particular person, we’d probably have heard their name by now.
I’m dubious of the notion that no evidence can be gleaned from the phone, but even granting that, why would he leave the phone behind at all? Even if little to no evidence could be extracted from it, why take the chance? It would obviously be safer to take it with him when he left. The fact that he didn’t indicates to me either carelessness or ignorance, neither of which seems consistent with a professional hitman.
I did see that they apparently have video of him on the subway before the shooting, carrying what appears to be an e-bike battery. I’m guessing he bought an inexpensive Chinese e-bike off Amazon and staged it in the alley the night before and chained up and without its battery so it wouldn’t be as appealing to thieves.
The phone being left behind is odd, but perhaps he dropped it or it fell out of his pocket and he didn’t want to risk going back for it. If it’s a burner phone that he bought with cash and whoever he called/called him took precautions it might still be impossible to tie it to an individual.
(Or the phone and bike could both be stolen, which would make tracking him even harder.)
If it does turn out this guy was motivated by revenge for someone who was denied coverage, he could potentially become the biggest folk-hero outlaw since Jesse James.
Because having it on you kind of obviates the point of having a burner phone? Having it on you is pretty damning evidence, no matter what steps you took to distance yourself from its purchase. They should have thrown it down a gutter or something, though.
Just in this thread there’s been mention of a phone, a water bottle, and a wrapper of some sort at or near the scene being linked to the shooter. How do we know that? It’s a street in a heavily urbanized area, that stuff could have come from anyone in the area that day. I don’t know about you folks, but walking down the streets of a city you see all sorts of random litter around.
Of course such items will be investigated because they MIGHT be related to the shooter… but they might not. People lose their phones all the time (where I work we have 8 sitting in the lost and found as of yesterday) along with all sorts of other things, and drop garbage, and so on.
The only things for sure connected to the shooting are the bullets found in the victim, and possibly nearby 'cause this is 'MURICA! and for all we know some of them were leftover from a prior shooting (well, probably not, but what the hell, maybe).
The killer was seen on CCTV at a Starbucks before the shooting, where he bought two snack bars and a bottle of water. Presumably they were able to match the trash near the scene to what he bought on that video.
If so, and he drank from the bottle, then they’ll almost definitely be able to get a DNA profile.
The carved bullets may be a red herring. Someone said “100 million Americans” have this type of training. I don’t believe that’s anywhere near being accurate. This ‘hit’ was incredibly professional and I’m surprised no one has called this guy “Leon”.
Yes, it was the day of the tree lighting, but all the cops were focused on that: elsewhere.
The timing was flawless.
The gun / gun handling was flawless ( I bet you won’t find prints on any of the rounds/casings)
The escape was well planned and brilliant. (Best guess? A van was waiting for him in Central Park)
That gun is (most likely) sleeping with the fishes.
That van probably left Manhattan with the tourists going home. It probably had two guys in it with paint splashed overalls / work clothes. The bike and the 1st set of clothes could have been under a tarp with paint cans and other construction materials on top.
Van to GWB to Rt 80 to NJ to PA to Clean Getaway. If either of those two are still in the country, I’d be surprised.
Anyway, that’s my best guess. That said, a hit like that costs huge amounts money. What could he influence that would be worth that kind of money. A few people joked about ‘an insurance policy’. But what if it was about a major company wide “policy” of what they will cover or Not cover in 2025?
< Gah…! Who keeps dropping these topics in “both hands tied behind your back” “no politics allowed” forums like MPSIMS??? >
Olitics starting with ‘P’ may never be even hinted at in this forum.
(I had a good 3 more paragraphs typed in my original post that I had to backtrack and erase. I can’t answer that in MPSMS. You might as well ask me why I can’t have an MRI done with all of my pockets filled with nails)
I’ve never been in the market, but I bet a professional hit like this isn’t cheap. I doubt the motive was payback for denial of coverage, the people who are impacted by coverage denial wouldn’t have the money to finance a hit. The hit was more likely sponsored by someone wronged by the victim in business dealings.
This is sensible, but you have to allow for the possibility that the assassin was just an average joe in a nation flush with guns who happened to be trained, either thru his job or as a hobby, to shoot things.