A planned pro may have intentionally planted-dropped, false leads all over.
Another angle, we don’t know whether Thompson “had had enough” and planted the seed in his wife’s mind “threats”, and paid the assailant himself, so to go out looking like a victim.
Anything is possible. I don’t think a professional would have taken his mask off for a picture in the hostel. That alone was a big mistake. They tracked him from a Greyhound bus to the hostel. How long before they track him back to his house? Who did he call from that phone before the shooting? I would be surprised if they don’t already know his identity. I guess we will find out soon enough. NYC isn’t the best location to pull off something like this. If he didn’t want to get caught he would have done it in a more secluded area. I don’t think a professional would have chosen such a populated area with cameras all over the place.