RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A 23-year-old man suspected of shooting at least eight vehicles on a busy North Carolina highway and several homes in recent days, wounding one person, will remain in custody without bond for now, a judge ruled Friday.
Andrew Thomas Graney was arrested Thursday at a home in Raleigh, the state capital. Two dozen law enforcement officers with guns drawn approached the home and later led two people out in handcuffs, WRAL-TV reported. The other person was released without charge, police said.
Graney, 23, is charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with the intent to kill or inflict serious injury and 11 counts of firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle or dwelling, police said in a statement. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive.
Graney, a senior at North Carolina State University, made his first court appearance on Friday via videoconference for a hearing to set bond and his next court date. He chose to have a court-appointed attorney, Ricky Elmore. Wake County Chief Public Defender Deonte’ Thomas said in an email after the hearing that Elmore has met with Graney, but that the office had no further comment.
Bullet casings found at most of the shooting scenes preliminarily matched the same firearm; Graney's vehicle matched descriptions of a vehicle at some of the locations; and cellphone tower data placed his phone at each of the sites, Wake County Assistant District Attorney Stacy Newton said.
“This was an absolutely senseless and random series of acts of violence,” Newton said.
District Judge Debra Sasser ultimately decided to withhold bond, citing the fact that the shootings took place over four days. A future judge may allow bond, but Graney would need to prove he is not a danger to the public.
“This is one of those cases that put fear in the heart of the entire community,” Sasser said. “I had colleagues tell me, texting me, ‘don’t go on I-40 today.' And I'm sure many other people in the community received that as well.”
Relatives of Graney did not immediately respond to voicemails or emails seeking comment.
Graney's mother, Treka Graney, told WRAL she had not seen her son for several months and he was not raised with guns in the home. “This is not my son,” she said.
“It totally took me off guard,” she said. “It is totally out of character. ... He’s a sweet boy. Everybody loves him. He always stands up straight, he’s very polite. He always follows the rules.”
The shootings, which apparently began Monday, began to get attention after several people reported gunfire on a stretch of Interstate 40 in Raleigh and the suburb of Cary around the Wednesday morning rush, police said. Reports of similar shootings then emerged.
Authorities said eight vehicles were struck, including two on Monday, four on Wednesday and two on Thursday. Four area homes were shot on Wednesday, police said. All were connected, Raleigh's police chief said.
One of the shots struck a woman in the leg early Monday while she was traveling on I-40, police said. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening. Most of the cars that were shot contained only the driver, but one had four occupants, authorities said in court records. People were also in the homes when they were shot, police said.
Investigators believe a Llama .45 Max 1 handgun was used in the shootings, court records show.
Graney's next court appearance is Nov. 27.
The attacks are just the latest highway shootings in the U.S. In Kentucky in September, law enforcement led a massive, multi-day search for a man who shot 12 vehicles and wounded five people on Interstate 75. The man’s remains were later found and identified.
Man is charged in highway shootings around North Carolina's capital city
Man is charged in highway shootings around North Carolina's capital city
Raleigh police officers, some in tactical gear, work the scene where two people were detained Thursday afternoon, Nov. 7, 2024, on Kentford Court in Raleigh Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, after someone repeatedly fired at cars on a busy highway near North Carolina’s capital this week, injuring one person. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer likely left New York City on a bus soon after the brazen ambush that has shaken corporate America, police officials said. But he left something behind: a backpack that was discovered in Central Park.
Nearly four days after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, police still did not know the gunman’s name or whereabouts or have a motive for the killing. Investigators were looking at whether the shooter may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
The FBI announced Friday night it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Video of the gunman fleeing Wednesday’s shooting showed him riding a bicycle into Central Park and later taking a taxi to a bus terminal that offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C, according to Kenny.
Police have video of the man entering the bus station but no video of him exiting, leading them to believe he left the city, Kenny said.
Investigators on Friday found a backpack in the park that had been worn by the gunman during the shooting, police said, following a massive sweep to find it in a vast area with lakes and ponds, meadows, playgrounds and woods.
Police didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be analyzed for clues.
The gunman made sure to conceal his identity with a mask during almost all of his time in the city, including during the attack and while he ate, yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras.
The gunman arrived in New York City on Nov. 24 and shot Thompson 10 days later outside his company’s annual investor conference at a hotel just blocks from Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center.
The gunman got off a bus that originated in Atlanta and made several stops along the way, Kenny said. Police have not determined where he got on the bus. Investigators have a list of passengers, but none of them would have had to provide an ID when they climbed aboard, Kenny said.
Investigators believe the suspect used a fake identification card and paid cash, Kenny said, when he checked in at the hostel, which has a café along with shared and private rooms and is blocks from Columbia University.
Investigators have tested a discarded water bottle and protein bar wrapper in a hunt for his DNA. They also were trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone found along the gunman’s escape route.
Photos of the suspected shooter that were taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side appear to from the only time he removed his mask, Kenny said. The images, showing a man smiling in the lobby of the HI New York City hostel. They are among a collection of photos and video circulated since the shooting — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspected gunman at a Starbucks beforehand.
“From every indication we have from witnesses, from the Starbucks, from the hostel, he kept his mask on at all times except for the one instance where we have him photographed with the mask off,” Kenny said.
His roommates at the hostel also said he didn’t speak to them. Nothing of investigative value was found in a search of the suspected shooter’s hotel room.
Asked how close he felt police were to making an arrest, Kenny said, “This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes. We’re painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across. Eventually, when an apprehension is made, we will have to present all of these facts to a judge and jury, so we’re taking our time, doing it right and making sure we’re going to get justice for this victim and closure for his family.”
Security video of the shooting shows the killer approaching Thompson from behind, firing several shots with a gun equipped with a silencer, barely pausing to clear a jam while the executive fell to the sidewalk.
Police were looking into the possibility that the weapon was a veterinary pistol, which is a weapon commonly used on farms and ranches if an animal has to be euthanized quietly, Kenny said — though he stressed that hadn’t been confirmed.
The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, one word on each of three bullets, Kenny said. A law enforcement official previously told The Associated Press the words were “deny,” “defend” and “depose.” The messages mirror the phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which is commonly used by lawyers and critics about insurers that delay payments, deny claims and defend their actions.
Thompson, a father of two sons who lived in a Minneapolis suburb, had been with Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years.
The insurer’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., was holding its annual meeting in New York for investors. The company abruptly ended the conference after Thompson’s death.
UnitedHealth Group said it was focused on supporting Thompson’s family, ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring,” the company said.
UnitedHealthcare provides coverage for more than 49 million Americans. It manages health insurance coverage for employers and state and federally funded Medicaid programs.
In October, UnitedHealthcare was named along with Humana and CVS in a Senate report detailing how its denial rate for prior authorizations for some Medicare Advantage patients has surged in recent years.
The shooting has rocked the health insurance industry in particular, causing companies to reevaluate security plans and delete photos of executives from their websites. A different Minnesota-based health care company said Friday it was temporarily closing its offices out of an abundance of caution, telling employees to work from home.
Balsamo reported from Washington. Jake Offenhartz, Cedar Attanasio and Karen Matthews in New York, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this story.
Members of the media line a sidewalk outside the HI New York City hostel, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in New York, where police say the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson may have stayed. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
This image provided by the New York City Police Department shows a man wanted for questioning in connection to the investigation of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (New York City Police Department via AP)
Traffic rolls past the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, near where the gunman fleeing Wednesday's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took a taxi to, according to surveillance video. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Pedestrian walk outside George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, where the gunman fleeing Wednesday's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took a taxi to, according to surveillance video. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traffic rolls past the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, where the gunman fleeing Wednesday's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took a taxi to, according to surveillance video. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Pedestrians cross the road outside George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, where the gunman fleeing Wednesday's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took a taxi to, according to surveillance video. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Commuters wait for buses at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, where the gunman fleeing Wednesday's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took a taxi to, according to surveillance video. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Commuters wait inside the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, where the gunman fleeing Wednesday's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took a taxi to, according to surveillance video. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A New York City Police officer walks through brush and foliage in Central Park near 64th Street and Central Park West, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in New York, while searching for a backpack police believe was dropped in the park by the person suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
This still image from surveillance video obtained by the Associated Press shows the suspect, left, sought in the the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, center, outside a Manhattan hotel where the health insurer was holding an investor conference, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo)
This image provided by the New York City Police Department shows a man wanted for questioning in connection to the investigation of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (New York City Police Department via AP)
A New York City Police officer walks through brush and foliage in Central Park near 64th Street and Central Park West, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in New York, while searching for a backpack police believe was dropped in the park by the person suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
