New York CEO shooting: Alleged shooter named as Luigi Mangione ...

Authorities were tipped off by someone who spotted him in the fast food restaurant, the New York Times reported.

“Members of the Altoona Police Department arrested Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old male, on firearms charges. At this time, he is believed to be our person of interest in the brazen, targeted murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare,” said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

He was found with a weapon that New York Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny described as a “ghost gun” capable of firing 9mm rounds and equipped with a suppressor.

Ghost guns are assembled with parts sold online, according to the Times. A key selling point for many buyers is that they do not bear serial numbers, unlike traditional firearms made by companies and bought from licensed dealers.

New York detectives were headed to Altoona, Tisch said, while Kenny said that Mangione possessed material that suggested he had “ill-will towards corporate America.”

The gunman walked up behind Thompson, a senior figure at UnitedHealthcare –one of the country’s largest medical insurers – and shot him dead last Wednesday in front of bystanders, in an attack captured by a surveillance camera and since seen by millions.

Thompson was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.

Detectives said the suspect fled the crime scene on foot, before riding a bike to Central Park, and later boarding a bus from a terminal in the north of the city connecting New York to surrounding states and beyond.

Police have yet to suggest a motive and would not confirm media reports that the words “delay” and “deny” – language often used by insurance companies to reject claims – were written on shell casings found at the scene.

Video footage shows Thompson on the pavement outside the New York Hilton Midtown when a man in a hooded top, his lower face covered, approaches from behind, then fires several shots at his 50-year-old victim, who crumples to the ground.

The New York Police Department told AFP that detectives had no update for the media, while the Altoona Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

An image released of the smiling suspect was obtained from a youth hostel where the gunman apparently stayed before the hit, with media reporting he had lowered his mask to flirt with a receptionist.

Authorities subsequently located a grey backpack in Central Park thought to belong to the killer containing a jacket and Monopoly money, US media reported.

- Agence France-Presse, with Telegraph UK