Former NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro said the type of weapon used by the gunman who murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday could work to his advantage police, and addressed rumors that the suspect may have worked as a contract killer.

“There is speculation that it is a contract killer, that it is a professional killer and so on. I would just hesitate and tell people to be aware of the fact that there are mostly professional assassins in films. They don’t really exist,” Mauro told Fox News Digital. Mauro says everything we know at the moment is just speculation.

In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, Thompson is seen walking along a sidewalk outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan early Wednesday morning when a masked man gunned him down before fleeing the scene.

“What we know so far is that he was very calm, he clearly knew the route… But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a contract killing. These things happen. I’m skeptical of the idea that this is a “professional shooter,” Mauro said.

Mauro said what makes this case even more interesting is the type of weapon that was used.

“Now it looks like it either has a very long barrel or a silencer. Silencers are de facto illegal and very, very difficult to obtain. So a lot of them are homemade. “That means it could just be a long-barreled weapon,” Mauro described.

“The weapon apparently has to be hung up again after each shot. Unusual.”

He added that such weapons exist and are designed to suppress noise, but that there are also additional features that can be added to prevent the slide of a semi-automatic weapon from breaking.

“This means that after shooting you have to pull the bolt of the weapon to be able to shoot again. He’s doing that in the video, which suggests he may have added something and modified the weapon because these are aftermarket things that you can add to the weapon,” Mauro said.

“So what I would say is someone who is knowledgeable about weapons, and this weapon in particular seems to be a rare type of weapon. And that’s a data point that police can track.”

Multiple law enforcement contacts told Fox News that they believed the weapon used in the murder was similar to a “Welrod,” a repeating pistol with a silencer that was first used in World War II.

“I bet my pension that this is the weapon used against the CEO of United. It is very, very quiet and requires manual switching after each shot. “Professionals’ first choice for up-close, quiet work,” the source told Fox News.

The forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden also told Fox News Digital that the first point in terms of forensic pathology is to determine whether the bullets passed through.

“Once the bullets are in and out, they really need to look for the bullets at the crime scene and not wait until after the autopsy,” Baden said.

Baden said this was crucial for investigators because the streets could be cleared by then so they couldn’t figure out where the bullets went and what path they took.

He added that Thompson likely died so quickly because his lung was damaged, but that investigators would know more in the next 24 to 48 hours.

“They’ll know how many shots were fired, if any went in and out, they’ll recover the bullets and get more information in addition to what they already have on the shell casings,” Baden said. “The unfired bullets are interesting, but irrelevant to the claim that they came from his gun – if they find the gun.”

The Hilton Hotel was hosting UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor meeting, and police said Thompson had been in town since Monday from Minnesota and lived across the street.

Mauro believes that since Thompson had been there since Monday, the shooter would have had other options to take action against Thompson, but convention appears to be the starting point.

New York City Crimestoppers is offering a total reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment.