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The nation was shocked this week by the brutal murder of health insurance executive Brian Thompson in downtown New York City on Wednesday morning (December 4, 2024)… but the layers exposed by the assassination are proving even more disturbing.
Thompson, 50, the chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down at approximately 6:45 a.m. EST outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan in what police are referring to as “a premeditated, targeted attack.” His killer, who has yet to be identified or apprehended, is currently the focus of a massive manhunt.
Officials with the New York Police Department (NYPD) – the lead agency investigating the murder – believe the “person of interest” in the case arrived in Manhattan on Sunday, November 24, 2024, alighting from a Greyhound bus at a port authority terminal at approximately 9:00 p.m. EST. The bus originated 900 miles to the south in Atlanta, Georgia – although police have not definitively stated whether the suspected gunman traveled the entirety of the route or boarded the bus along the way.
Shortly after arriving in the Big Apple, he checked into a hostel located at 891 Amsterdam Avenue on the city’s Upper West Side near Central Park. Five days later, he left the hostel but returned the following day (November 30, 2024) via an Uber. A fake New Jersey driver’s license was used to book both stays at the hostel, police said.
Witnesses said the suspect was reportedly observed “milling around” the hotel prior to the attack – “lying in wait,” per police. When Thompson appeared on the sidewalk on his way to a scheduled corporate investor’s meeting, the shooter stepped from behind a vehicle and opened fire…
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$DDD is the ticker for Justice!
— Brokemoneymfer (@Br0kemoneymfer) December 5, 2024
CEyqpXcqxSYxJEZY91HurPKErPZsKK9ggJQrNmWLpump
the @nypd is investigating the fatal shooting of the CEO of @UHC . The CEO was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan in an targeted attack as he was about to attend the company’s annual investor… pic.twitter.com/Mk0tmmo2n9
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Following the shooting, the suspect fled the scene on foot via a nearby alley. Shortly thereafter, he reportedly hopped onto one of the city’s electric bikes and was seen at 6:48 a.m. EST riding the bike into Central Park approximately 1,500 feet from where the shooting took place.
Police believe he exited the park – without his backpack – at West 77th Street, which is approximately a mile away from where he entered the park. At approximately 7:00 a.m. EST, he was last spotted on a surveillance camera traveling via bike on West 85th Street nearly two miles from where the shooting took place.
Police have released the following photos of the “person of interest” in the murder, which were taken during his stay at the hostel…
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?UPDATE: Below are photos of a person of interest wanted for questioning regarding the Midtown Manhattan homicide on Dec. 4. This does not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premediated, targeted attack.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 5, 2024
The full investigative efforts of… pic.twitter.com/K3kzC4IbtS
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While police have yet to publicly release a motive for the shooting, shell casings recovered from the scene were reportedly marked with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose.”
Many have pointed to the similarities of these words to ‘Delay, Deny, Defend‘ – the title of a 2010 book written by author and Rutgers professor Jay M. Feinman which addressed the “denial of valid insurance claims” as part of a corporate scheme to “maximize profits.”
UnitedHealthcare has been accused of engaging in precisely such tactics, allegedly denying claims at an elevated rate compared to its industry peers.
“UnitedHealth Group’s profiteering by denying care is a disgrace, leaving people across Minnesota and all of the United States without the care they desperately need,” the left-leaning People’s Action Institute wrote in an April 2024 letter (.pdf) to the company. “Delays and denials of care result in suffering for tens of millions of people annually in the form of medical debt, bankruptcy, ongoing sickness or injury, increased stress and lost wages, worsened health outcomes and even premature death.”
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UnitedHealthcare has denied these allegations, claiming it settles 90 percent of its medical care claims within three months and “substantially all” of its claims within one year.
Also worth noting? At the time of the shooting, Thompson was one of several company executives facing a federal investigation into alleged anti-trust violations involving the company’s various acquisitions. That investigation dates back to 2022, and was reopened in February of this year. A class action suit against Thompson and two other executives who sold stock prior to the probe being announced was filed in Minnesota in May of 2024 – raising the specter of potential insider trading.
“UnitedHealth was aware of the DOJ investigation since at least October 2023,” the class action (.pdf) stated. “Instead of disclosing this material investigation to investors or the public, UnitedHealth insiders sold more than $120 million of their personally held UnitedHealth shares. In the four months between learning about the DOJ investigation and the investigation becoming public, UnitedHealth’s Chairman Stephen Hemsley sold over $102 million of his personally held UnitedHealth shares and Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, sold over $15 million of his personally held UnitedHealth shares.”
Count on FITSNews to continue tracking developments in this story… including efforts to identify and apprehend the alleged perpetrator, understand the motive for the crime and the corporate context in which it occurred.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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9 comments
Something north of 15,000 police cameras and an estimated 25,000 private security cameras in NYC. This dude wasn’t a professional and based on his movements, he’s probably going to turn out to be an “activist” of some kind.
Yeah, that pistol with built-in silencer combo seemed to be some rare bolt-action oddity (which would be something an anti-gun lefty would choose instead of a high- capacity compact semi-auto, which they abhor and want to ban), and he rode off on an E-bike. Not definitive, but some strong Antifa-type vibes on this one. If Red Storm Rising chimes in with some commie comrade praises for this dude (or is it a dudette?) it will only strengthen my suspicion.
His look definitely gives off Antifa vibes.
Last year 13,529 people were murdered with a firearm. 495 of those were in South Carolina. But they were all commoners and their deaths did not warrant coverage other than maybe a brief mention on the 11 o’clock news on a local television station, if that. But let one mega-wealthy CEO go down and then there is outrage and a nationally covered manhunt and all the super-rich Wall Street types demand action.
Thoughts and prayers, but this is just another gun death in America.
Of those 13,529 firearm deaths, how many were committed by someone seemingly unconnected to the victim? Of those, how many were brazenly committed on a sidewalk in midtown Manhattan? Brian Thompson’s life was no more or less value than any other, but I am, admittedly, more intrigued by the case. If it were a movie, I’d watch it.
Except in the case of random shootings, there is always a connection. Murders happen on the streets of major cities every day. I think it’s pretty clear that Brian Thompson’s life is more valuable to the people in charge than a high school kid gunned down in a drive-by. But you know that, by your comment. “on a sidewalk in midtown Manhattan.” You are intrigued because this guy shot someone important in a part of town where police are supposed to have the resources to make sure important people are safe.
The super rich and powerful are always afraid of cracks in the system, and looking for evidence that the unimportant people are beginning to tire of waiting for fairness from their Government. Is this such a case? Who knows. But watching Donald Trump turn over the Government to billionaire after billionaire, I’m pretty sure that 4 years from now you will see a lot more frustration from the common man; or as one time Trump friend Leona Helmsley called them, the little people.
The total net worth of the billionaires in the Trump administration, as of Dec. 5, equals at least $358.9 billion – which is more than the GDP of 169 different countries. Since Musk and Ramaswamy won’t be part of Trump’s Cabinet, excluding them brings the net worth of Trump’s Cabinet to at least $13.3 billion, assuming all nominees are approved in the Senate.
Trump supporters say he is not turning the country into a crony capitalist oligarchy, but the facts speak for themselves.
I just said that I was more intrigued to see the outcome of this case. Whether it’s because of the victim, the location, or the likely motive, I just find myself wanting to see how it plays out. It’s sad that this is real life, really. If I feel any guilt over my intrigue, it’s because my interest devalues the fact that someone lost his life, and another man has ruined his life. Until our exchange here, I didn’t even consider WHY I was intrigued. I just knew that I was. Upon inner reflection, it’s definitely not because I find Thompson’s life more valuable than another.
Not so much “national outrage” as curiosity and actual support for the shooter. The scumbag CEO and many more like him have grown filthy rich on the deaths and suffering of their customers, who they frequently denied payments, treatment, or reimbursement, to. As many others on other forms have said, I hope they never find this guy.
I bet the decedent got filthy rich from his company minimizing or denying claims from customers who paid their premiums for years, even decades. Insurance (all kinds, life, health, auto, home, etc) is one of the biggest scams in this country.
Sorry about the CEO but I am all out of sympathy for him and his colleagues.