UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s suspected shooter used fake NJ ID to check into hostel: sources

The suspected gunman who shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had checked into an Upper West Side hostel using a fake New Jersey ID in the days before the brazen attack, law enforcement sources told The Post.

According to sources, the suspect had already used the ID on November 30 to secure a spot at the HI New York City Hostel at 891 Amsterdam Ave. to book in Manhattan.

However, a subsequent investigation revealed that the ID was fake, the sources said.

The cold-blooded killer was seen in chilling surveillance images smiling in the same hostel before shooting Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown early Wednesday.

Police and FBI agents searched the hostel after the gunman was captured on video shortly before the fatal shooting.

A search of a dorm room rented by the suspect turned up nothing of note as of Thursday afternoon, sources said.

While the manhunt for the killer continued, sources said police had now recovered the burner cell phone that he had thrown away while fleeing the crime scene and disappeared in Central Park just minutes after the manager’s murder.

Police said the suspect was seen talking on the phone on the way to the hotel on Sixth Avenue.

Officers also found one of the water bottles he purchased at a Starbucks on West 56th Street and Sixth Avenue – just minutes from the hotel.

—Additional reporting by Emily Crane