Authorities in New York City have called the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a “pre-planned, targeted attack.” With a search still underway for the unidentified gunman who fled the scene after firing multiple bullets into Thompson in the early hours of Wednesday, Dec. 4, additional details continue to emerge from investigations into the incident.
Thompson, 50, joined UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and cycled through a number of roles before being named UnitedHealthcare CEO in April 2021. He was struck in the back and leg while walking outside of a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan at around 6:45 a.m. Video footage of the attack shows the shooter approaching Thompson from behind after “lying in wait for several minutes,” according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Thompson was pronounced dead at a nearby Mount Sinai hospital.
In efforts to locate the shooter, the NYPD released photos allegedly placing the suspect in a nearby Starbucks prior to the attack. The attire worn in the images seems to match that of the video footage. Additional photos were shared via official NYPD social media accounts on Thursday, Dec. 5. The person of interest in the set of images is not wearing a mask over his face. It is unclear from the postings whether the images were captured on the same day as the shooting.
At the scene of the shooting, law enforcement officials recovered multiple shell casings that were printed with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.” A number of social media users connected the words to Jay M. Feinman’s Delay, Deny, Defend. The book, published in 2010, explores how and why “insurance companies delay payment of justified claims, deny payment altogether, and defend their actions by forcing claimants to enter litigation,” according to a synopsis.
The attack was not deemed to be a “random act of violence,” according to Tisch. The shooter did not engage with anyone who passed by while seemingly awaiting the CEO’s arrival. Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News: “Yes, there had been some threats. Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.” Thompson lived in Maple Grove, a suburb in Minnesota. According to the Minneapolis news outlet KARE 11, no official reports of any received threats were filed to local police. However, TMZ obtained police records that stated a bomb threat had recently been made targeting his house, though no bomb was found on the scene.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny noted that the gunman seemed to be “proficient in the use of firearms,” as suggested by his ability to swiftly recover after his gun seemed to jam after he filed his initial shots into Thompson. Video footage of the shooter showed him wearing a black face mask, a hooded jacket, and a backpack of a lighter color. Following the shooting, the suspect fled the scene, initially on foot and later on a bike. He was last seen in Central Park.
Previous reports suggested that the shooter used a Citi Bike to escape the scene. One user on social media, who says they often “scrape CitiBike data” to track the location of bikes, attempted to assist in the investigation by narrowing down bikes checked out of nearby docks. A spokesperson for Lyft, which operates Citi Bike, initially vowed to assist law enforcement in its investigation. But according to the New York Times, Lyft stated that it had been informed that Citi Bike was not involved in the escape. The NYPD has shifted its focus to the potential use of an unmarked e-bike.
The incident occurred less than two hours before the annual UnitedHealth Group Investor Conference was scheduled to begin. A press release for the conference detailed: “UnitedHealth Group leaders will discuss the company’s long-term strategic growth priorities and its efforts to advance high-quality health care, including through a continued focus on improving the consumer experience and expanding value-based care.”
In October, the Senate Homeland Security Committee published a report about UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and CVS “intentionally using prior authorization to boost profits by targeting costly yet critical stays in post-acute care facilities” for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. The report stated that in April 2021, an internal committee at UnitedHealthcare approved the use of “Machine Assisted Prior Authorization” to review cases. It found that the implementation of these automated processes coincided with a significant increase in denial rates for prior authorization requests for post-acute care.
The NYPD is offering $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.