Ammunition used in CEO's killing in New York City has writing on it: report

NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The masked gunman who stalked and killed the CEO of one of the largest U.S. health insurance companies in New York City used ammunition emblazoned with the words "deny," "defend" and "depose," The Associated Press reported on Thursday, quoting a law enforcement official.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, died in a dawn ambush on Wednesday as he walked to the company's annual investor conference at a Hilton hotel in Manhattan, New York City.

The words on the ammunition may have been a reference to strategies insurance companies use to try to avoid paying claims, the report said.

Investigators recovered several 9 mm shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny had said earlier.

"The killing and the shooter's movements in the minutes before and afterward were captured on some of the multitudes of security cameras present in that part of the city," and judging from surveillance video and evidence collected from the scene, "the shooter had at least some prior firearms training and experience with guns and the weapon was equipped with a silencer," the report said.

Authorities were running DNA and fingerprint analysis on items found nearby, including a water bottle, that they believe the suspect may have discarded, the official was quoted as saying.