How mysterious homicide of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson sparked frenzied NYC manhunt

Shortly earlier than dawn on Wednesday, a shadowy determine shrouded in black stood quietly below the marquee of the historic Ziegfeld Theater in Midtown Manhattan, poised to boost the curtain on one of many metropolis’s most sensational tales of cold-blooded homicide, a murky motive and a frenzied manhunt for a mysterious killer.

The masked assassin, who had been mendacity in wait on that chilly, darkish morning, lastly noticed his quarry. He crept up behind UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson as he walked down W. 54th St. towards the Hilton lodge, and aimed a robust pistol geared up with a silencer behind the unsuspecting insurance coverage govt.

The primary bullet despatched Thompson, 50, crumpling to the sidewalk. The gunman coolly cleared a jam in his pistol as he walked previous his sufferer and fired two extra instances, leaving Thompson mendacity facedown on the dirty pavement.

Thompson died at 7:12 a.m. after being rushed to Mount Sinai West Hospital. Inside a matter of minutes, by way of a mix of cautious planning and sheer luck, his killer walked right into a bus terminal close to the George Washington Bridge, making ready to board a bus heading out of town.

“We don’t know what bus he took and we’re working through the video with the Port Authority Police Department,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny mentioned Friday.

A whirlwind investigation of the seemingly ideologically motivated homicide — a blood-soaked criticism of the cutthroat medical insurance coverage business — adopted, slowly uncovering clues to the id of the gunman and revealing a attainable motive. However a lot stays a thriller.

“Our thought is it could possibly be a disgruntled employee or a client,” Kenny mentioned concerning the homicide of Thompson, who was on the town for a company-sponsored traders convention and was set to offer a speech on the Hilton Resort a few hours earlier than he was slain.

A killer lies in wait 

4 days after the homicide, tons of of NYPD detectives have recovered a tantalizing quantity of data from witnesses and surveillance footage concerning the suspect’s actions main as much as Wednesday’s taking pictures, however to date his closing vacation spot continues to be unknown.

The gunman arrived in New York Metropolis at Midtown’s Port Authority Bus Terminal on the night time of Nov. 24. He instantly went to the Hilton — the scene of his future crime — earlier than going to a HI New York Metropolis hostel on Amsterdam Ave. at 104th St. on the Higher West Facet.

On the morning of the killing, he left the hostel at 5:30 a.m. and rode a motorbike to W. 54th St. and Sixth Ave., the place he was seen strolling backwards and forwards close to the Hilton entrance.

“While he’s walking around, he’s passing numerous New Yorkers going about their business,” Kenny mentioned, bolstering the idea that the gunman was targeted on one individual: Thompson.

After the caught-on-camera taking pictures, the gunman fled and was later seen on surveillance video using a bicycle north on Sixth Ave. to Central Park.

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It’s believed he left the Huge Apple behind him hours earlier than cops launched the primary pictures of the masked shooter.

On the scene, cops discovered three 9mm shell casings in addition to a couple of stay rounds that had been expelled from the pistol because the suspect freed a jam. The phrases “Delay,” “Deny,” and “Depose” — a supposed insurance coverage business mantra for delaying claims and maximizing earnings — had been written on the ammunition with a Sharpie, police mentioned.

“We’re nonetheless in shock,” Thompson’s mother-in-law, Paulette Reveiz, informed the Day by day Information hours after the medical health insurance CEO was killed. “The one factor I can say is he’s an excellent man. I can’t say anything.”

His spouse, Paulette Thompson, informed NBC Information that the CEO had obtained threats earlier than his journey to New York.

“There had been some threats,” she informed the TV station. “Mainly, I don’t know, an absence of protection? I don’t know particulars. I simply know that he mentioned there have been some those who had been threatening him.”

A cellphone was discovered close to the scene and a bottle of water and a Form bar wrapper dealt with by the gunman have been discovered at a close-by Starbucks the gunman had visited shortly earlier than the killing, and have been taken in for DNA testing. However the fingerprints had “no value” and couldn’t be used to seek out an ID, Kenny mentioned.

A short flirtation offers a crucial clue

Throughout his 10 days within the metropolis, the suspect by no means eliminated his black surgical masks, even when he ate in entrance of his roommates on the hostel, cops mentioned.

The most important break the police bought was on the night time he arrived within the metropolis the place a flirtation with an worker on the hostel prompted the suspect to take away his masks and smile on the employee, offering police with a transparent picture of the suspect.

The picture has been run by way of the NYPD’s facial recognition system, however has to date revealed no hits, Kenny mentioned.

Thompson, a father of two and valedictorian of his 1997 class on the College of Iowa, lived in Maple Grove, Minn., close to the Minnetonka, Minn. headquarters of UnitedHealth Group.

Thompson started on the firm in 2004, engaged on mergers and acquisitions. He steadily climbed by way of the ranks on the insurance coverage large, appearing as chief monetary officer for one division and chief govt officer of one other earlier than being named CEO of UnitedHealthcare in April 2021.

In 2023, Thompson’s complete compensation was $10.2 million, together with base pay, inventory awards and money incentives, based on a press release of govt pay from the corporate.

His homicide triggered a torrent of rage-filled reactions on social media, most of them expressing contempt and dissatisfaction with the medical health insurance business he represented.

“If you shoot one man on the street it’s homicide,” one individual wrote on X. “If you kill 1000’s of people in hospitals by taking away their skill to get remedy you’re an entrepreneur.”

On Thursday night time, UnitedHealth Group issued an up to date assertion on Thompson’s homicide, thanking the “caring people” who’ve provided their condolences and asking for privateness for Thompson’s household.

“Whereas our hearts are damaged, now we have been touched by the massive outpouring of kindness and help within the hours since this horrific crime passed off.”

“Our priorities are, firstly, supporting Brian’s household; making certain the protection of our workers; and dealing with legislation enforcement to convey the perpetrator to justice.”

The FBI, which has been serving to the NYPD of their investigation from the start late Friday, posted a $50,000 reward for info resulting in the gunman’s seize — a gunman who, by now, may very well be wherever.

Because the manhunt went nationwide, detectives shall be wanting into each nugget of data that comes their approach on this case, Kenny mentioned.

“We have teams specifically assigned to vet and investigate, as weird as some of them are, as detailed as some of them are,” he mentioned. “We will vet and investigate every tip.”

With Rocco Parascandola

Initially Printed: December 7, 2024 at 6:00 PM EST