The popular Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center, about four blocks from where the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot on Wednesday morning, will go on as planned on Wednesday night.
Even as a manhunt for the gunman was underway, officials at Rockefeller Center said the annual ceremony would take place at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The event will be broadcast live on NBC.
The tree lighting, whose origin dates to the 1930s, is a signature holiday event that is typically patrolled by a large contingent of police officers. Jeffrey Maddrey, the chief of department for the N.Y.P.D., said there would be a “massive police presence” for the event on Wednesday, including aviation and canine units.
More than 50,000 multicolor LED lights will illuminate a 74-foot-tall tree weighing 11 tons, which was taken into Manhattan from Massachusetts last month, and performers are to include Kelly Clarkson, the Backstreet Boys, Thalia and the Radio City Rockettes.
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