Why do police think those two photos are the same person (Thompson murder)?

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor

The handgun has been identified as a Veterinary Pistol, used to put down farm animals.

@Musicat

I am far from a gun expert, but I believe the gun did not jam, but since it is not a full-automatic, has to have the bolt pulled from the rear after a shot, rotated about a 1/4 turn, then pushed back in place to be ready to fire. At first glance, that might look like a jam-clearing action, but probably isn’t.

@steronz

Here’s a gif, I guess that could look like he’s manually clearing a jam. He’d have to load the rounds 1 at a time.

Not a Bell Gun, a Welrod, a B&T VP9/Station SIX-9, or any other exotic “assassin’s gun”; this is pretty clearly a standard short recoil autoloading pistol with a large suppressor (which can be legally purchased in many states by just paying a federal tax stamp, and can be constructed by a reasonably handy person albeit with questionable reliability) that is experiencing feed or failure to return to battery failures.

Stranger