Son detained in probe of hedge fund founder's killing
Police have taken into custody for questioning the 30-year-old son of a New York hedge fund founder who was found shot to death Sunday in his apartment in an upscale East Side building near the United Nations.
Thomas Gilbert Sr., 70, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene in his eighth-floor apartment at 20 Beekman Place. Police say a Glock 22 .40-caliber handgun used in the shooting was found near the body.
His son, Thomas Gilbert Jr., was taken into custody from his apartment in Manhattan's artsy Chelsea district and is considered a person of interest in the shooting, according to NYPD Lt. Thomas Antonetti, ABC News reports.
The New York Daily News quotes police as saying that officers had to break down the front door of the ground-floor apartment of the younger Gilbert, who was hiding inside. The newspaper said he was taken away in handcuffs.
The Wall Street Journal quotes an unidentified law enforcement official as saying Thomas and his father were discussing differences in their relationship before the incident.
The son was the only other person in the apartment at the time of the shooting, NBC4 reports, quoting an unidentified police official.
His distraught mother called 911 at 3:31 p.m. after finding her husband mortally wounded on the floor of the apartment, the Daily News reports.
Christopher Kelly lives directly below Gilbert's apartment and heard a sound that alerted him. "Something just went 'kaboom,' just hit the floor loudly. That's all I heard, like something dropped somewhere," says Kelly.
One resident who did not want to be identified says the doorman said a man came rushing past him to the elevator. "He asked him who he was here to see, and he said 'Mr. so and so', and he got into the elevator before he could even call up," says the man.
The elder Gilbert founded Wainscott Capital Partners Fund in 2011. The fund has $200 million in assets and focuses on the biotech and health care industries.
Gilbert previously co-founded Syzygy Therapeutics, a biotech asset acquisition fund.
Contributing: The Associated Press