New York City Mayor Eric Adams reiterated his call for people to remove their masks and show their faces when entering shops and taxis, saying it's a "very smart, simple way" to give law enforcement tools to apprehend suspects like the man accused of executing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week.
"Last year or earlier this year, we called to say when you go into businesses and establishments, ask people to temporarily remove their masks," Adams said at a Monday news conference. "We can close these cases in hours if everyone would cooperate and temporarily pull down your mask."
He emphasized the temporary removal.
"You don't have to permanently take it off, but once you get that video and once you get that picture, then you're in a good place," the mayor said, referring to surveillance cameras inside businesses. "We're going to ask our Uber, Lyft, taxis, all of them to ask the same. When you get inside someone's taxi, someone's cab, someone's for-hire vehicle, you should have that person pull down their mask so you can see who they are and many of our vehicles have cameras inside.
"That would assist us greatly to apprehend the person involved and send the information across the country. So, I will continue to advocate a very smart, simple way of having a great tool for law enforcement."
Police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, arrested a suspect on gun-related charges Monday after last week's assassination of Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was found sitting in a McDonald's with a gun similar to the one believed to be used in Thompson's murder, as well as fake IDs.
Law enforcement was reportedly able to obtain a good look at the suspect's face when he pulled down his mask to check into a hostel in Manhattan before the shooting.