The gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday is believed to have traveled to New York City on a Greyhound bus 10 days before the killing as the manhunt for the suspected shooter enters its fifth day.
Thompson, 50, a father of two, was shot at point-blank range near the New York Hilton Midtown on Wednesday morning just before a scheduled investor meeting.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday “the net is tightening” around the suspect after police found a backpack they believe belonged to the shooter in Central Park late Friday. This weekend, MSNBC reported that the backpack contained Monopoly money and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket, but no weapon.
New York Police Department divers also searched a Central Park pond for the suspect’s firearm on Saturday, just before officials released new photos of the suspect getting into a taxi.
Adams added that law enforcement officials do not want to release the suspect’s name at this time.
“If we do, we are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all,” Adams said.
Here’s everything we know so far about the fatal attack on the 50-year-old insurance CEO:
Thompson shot in ‘premeditated attack’
The unidentified shooter had been hiding behind a car outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan for about five minutes when Thompson exited, police said. The suspect was spotted at a nearby Starbucks on West 56th Street and 6th Avenue shortly before the shooting.
The shooter, who was wearing a mask, approached Thompson from behind and shot him in the right calf and back at 6:46 a.m. Video of the incident shows the shooter calmly walking up behind Thompson before shooting him, then calmly crossing the street. The footage also showed a bystander running away as the suspect opened fire.
“The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot. It appears that the gun malfunctions as he clears the jam and begins to fire again,” New York Police Department’s Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
Thompson was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Police described the shooter as a white man wearing a black hoodie and black pants with a gray backpack. Police announced Friday they found what appears to be that same backpack in Central Park.
The suspect may have used a veterinary gun, according to Kenny. Veterinary guns are larger guns used by farmers to put down animals without making a loud noise.
“It’s meant for close-up killing,” CNN’s Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said of veterinary guns. “It’s meant for vets to kill an animal by shooting it in the head or somewhere, you know, that’s going to be fatal. But it would work the exact same way on humans, very effectively and extraordinarily quietly.”
The shooter fled the scene through an alleyway on an e-bike. He biked via Sixth Avenue to Central Park. Soon afterward, security footage shows the suspect entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal, police said. However, they did not find footage of him leaving, indicating he may have left the city on a bus.
Police have briefed US border patrol agents at both borders to keep an eye out for the suspect, CNN reports.
The shooting was a “premeditated, pre-planned targeted attack,” police said late on Wednesday morning. Thompson appeared unaware he was in danger and had no security detail near him, Kenny told reporters.
Thompson was in the city to speak at the UnitedHealth Group’s annual Investor Conference on Wednesday.
“Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the company said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to Brian’s family and all who were close to him.”
On Thursday, police released images of the suspect with his mask pulled down. The photos came from a surveillance video at the New York City hostel where the suspect was staying.
New clues emerge as manhunt heads into fifth day
As of Saturday afternoon, new clues have emerged as police continue to piece together information regarding the suspected assailant’s whereabouts before the CEO was fatally shot.
The armed suspect is reported to have traveled via Greyhound bus to New York 10 days before the shooting unfolded, according to law enforcement sources who spoke to CNN.
Police say he arrived in New York City on November 24 after jumping on a bus departing from Atlanta but officials have not been able to pinpoint exactly where he boarded – stating it could have been in Atlanta or elsewhere.
On the day he arrived in New York City, he was captured on surveillance video stepping off the bus at around 9 p.m. and spotted walking through the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, said law enforcement sources.
He then checked into an Upper West Side hostel, left on November 29, and then used a fake New Jersey ID to check back in on November 30.
While in the hostel, he slept in a multi-person room with two other men and wore a mask for the majority of his stay, according to CNN. His whereabouts from November 30 to Wednesday morning are still unclear.
Both Greyhound and the hostel’s parent company, Hostelling International USA, told ABC News in a statement that they are “fully cooperating with the NYPD” but cannot comment further due to the active investigation.
Authorities found three live 9mm rounds and three discharged 9mm shell casings, as well as a cell phone, at the scene of the shooting. They also recovered a candy wrapper and water bottle believed to belong to the suspect, according to ABC News.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN on Friday that investigators have a “huge amount of evidence” in their search, including DNA evidence, fingerprints and a “massive camera canvass” of the suspect’s movements.
The bullet casings police found at the scene had the words “deny”, “defend” and “depose” written on them.
A 2020 book by Jay Feinman about the insurance industry bears a similar title: Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It. The book describes itself as an “expose of insurance injustice and a plan for consumers and lawmakers to fight back”.
Feinman did not comment when contacted by The Independent.
Wife reveals Thompson received threats as police search for motive
Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News in the hours after her shooting her husband received threats prior to his killing. UnitedHealth Group was aware of concerning threats against its executives, CNN reported.
“There had been some threats,” she told the outlet. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of [health insurance] coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
A motive in the shooting has not been released, but some have speculated that with the reported messages on the bullets that it is tied to Thompson’s role in health insurance.
The NYPD Crime Stoppers are offering a $10,000 reward for information. The FBI has also joined the investigation, offering $50,000 for information.
Family and leaders mourn CEO
Thompson’s family members are in mourning as they process the news.
Thompson’s sister Elena Reveiz told The New York Times that her brother was a “good person, and I am so sad.”
His brother Mark previously told The Independent he was not yet ready to comment on the situation.
“Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives,” Thompson’s family said in a statement to Minnesota news outlet KARE. “We appreciate your condolences and request complete privacy as our family moves through this difficult time,” the statement continued.
Thompson is a father of two. Before taking the CEO job in 2021, he worked as the company’s head of government programs. As CEO, Thompson worked out of UnitedHealthcare’s offices in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Fake bomb threats were made against two homes, one owned by Thompson and the other owned by his wife, shortly after he was shot on Wednesday.
The two homes, which are less than a mile apart in Maple Grove, Minnesota, were targeted on Wednesday evening, The Minnesota Star-Tribune reported. The threat was sent via e-mail to multiple people who then notified police. Thompson and his wife had been living in separate homes in Maple Grove for years, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The threats were not credible and considered an instance of “swatting,” police said.
“No devices or suspicious items were located during the investigation,” a Maple Grove police spokesperson said in a statement. ”The case is considered an active investigation, while the incident appears to be a hoax.”
Thompson kept a low profile with little public name recognition, the Associated Press reported.
Thompson was also named in a lawsuit filed by a Florida pension fund earlier this year accusing UnitedHealth of hiding an antitrust investigation by the Justice Department from shareholders while insiders sold stock, according to the Journal. Thompson had not answered the claims in court before Wednesday’s shooting.
Under his leadership, UnitedHealthcare provided coverage to more than 49 million people, making it the largest insurance company in the US. The network includes 1.3 million physicians and care professionals across nearly 7,000 facilities.
Under Thompson, the company made $74 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter, earning the title of the largest subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. Thompson made $10.2 million annually and was one of the company’s highest-paid employees.