By Ed Shanahan and Shayla Colón
A frantic manhunt was underway Thursday for a masked assailant who shot and killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the largest health insurers in the United States, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel Wednesday morning in what police called a brazen assassination.
The executive, Brian Thompson, was shot from behind as he arrived at the New York Hilton Midtown on West 54th Street for an investors’ gathering.
After firing at least three shots at Thompson, 50, and hitting him in the calf and back, the shooter ran through a nearby passageway to West 55th Street, where police said he jumped on a bike and rode off into Central Park.
Police are now investigating whether the gunman escaped on an unmarked e-bike, rather than a Citi Bike as they first said, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
On Thursday, police released two photos of the man who is believed to be the shooter with his mask down that appear to have been taken at a hostel he was staying at. A senior law enforcement official said the shooter had been sharing a room with two strangers at the hostel, which is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan near 103rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. It remains unclear when the photos were taken.
Police were also investigating messages left on bullet casings at the scene of the shooting, according to two law enforcement officials. Authorities are running ballistics tests on the casings, which appear to have had the words “delay” and “deny” on them, the official said.
While the meaning of the message was not immediately clear, “Delay, Deny, Defend” is the title of a 2010 book by Jay M. Feinman, a professor emeritus at Rutgers Law School, that discusses ways that health insurance companies avoid paying for patients’ claims.
Who was Brian Thompson?
Thompson became UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in April 2021. The company, which is based in a Minneapolis suburb, is a unit of UnitedHealth Group, whose market valuation of $560 billion makes it one of the country’s largest publicly traded companies.
Thompson spent more than 20 years rising through the ranks at UnitedHealthcare, which offers insurance to companies and individuals, employs about 140,000 people and had $281 billion in revenue in 2023.
He received total compensation of $10.2 million last year, with $1 million in base pay augmented by substantial cash and stock grants. The company’s profits rose on his watch, jumping to more than $16 billion last year from $12 billion in 2021.
But amid the growth, the company and its parent also attracted scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators who accused them of systematically refusing to authorize health care procedures and treatments.
UnitedHealth Group’s size and scope have attracted the attention of the Justice Department, which is examining whether it has engaged in anticompetitive behavior.
According to regulatory filings, Thompson owned about $20 million of UnitedHealth Group shares as of late September. Bloomberg reported in April that he was one of several company executives who sold shares before the Justice Department antitrust investigation was disclosed to investors — about $15 million worth, in Thompson’s case. The company told Bloomberg at the time that the sales had been approved.
UnitedHealthcare has drawn criticism from patients, lawmakers and others over its denial of claims that have, at times, left people stuck with sizable medical bills that they have to pay out of their own pockets.
UnitedHealthcare was the subject of a scathing report released by a Senate panel that documented insurers’ refusal to pay for the care of older people who suffered a fall or stroke. The report was part of Senate investigations into denial rates of private Medicare Advantage plans. Thompson’s company, in particular, was cited for a surge in denials in post-acute care when it increased to 22.7% in 2022 from 10.9% in 2020.
How did the shooting unfold?
The killer, according to images released by police and security camera footage, was a man wearing a dark hooded jacket, a gray backpack and a mask covering the bottom of his face.
Apparently knowing which door Thompson planned to enter, the shooter arrived outside the hotel about 10 minutes before his intended target and ignored passersby as he lay in wait.
As Thompson, in a blue suit, walked toward the hotel entrance, the shooter approached him from behind and fired at least three shots with a pistol that appeared to be fitted with a silencer. The pistol jammed during the shooting, but the gunman cleared the jam quickly and continued firing.
Struck by the bullets, Thompson took several steps, turned to face his assailant and then collapsed on the sidewalk.
With his victim crumpled against a wall, the shooter walked toward him slowly. He seemed to point the gun at Thompson one more time, then walked away. He began to run only as he was crossing the street.
Where does the investigation stand?
The police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who was sworn into the job just last week, said her department would “not rest until we identify and apprehend the shooter in this case.”
Officers recovered a cellphone near the shooting site, and detectives were conducting a forensic analysis to see whether it was linked to the killing, police said.
Investigators were also expected to comb through footage from the many security cameras on the surrounding blocks that might offer leads as to where the shooter came from and where he went.
One place he apparently stopped before the shooting was a nearby Starbucks on Sixth Avenue. Several images released by police from inside the coffee shop showed what appeared to be a man dressed the same way as the shooter.
Police released additional images of who they believe to be the shooter Thursday morning. The images show a man, smiling and wearing a green jacket, backpack and what looks like the black face mask he was seen wearing in previous photos around his neck.
Law enforcement officials were also investigating the purchase of a gun in Connecticut that they believe resembles the one used in the shooting, two officials briefed on the investigation said. They are trying to determine if that gun was bought by the person they suspect to be the shooter, the officials added.
Investigators were also examining Thompson’s background for signs of a possible motive.
He had recently received several threats, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation; the source and precise nature of the threats were unclear.
Police officers in Maple Grove, Minnesota, where Brian Thompson lived, responded to a bomb threat targeting his home Wednesday, just hours before he was gunned down, a police report released Thursday said. The small suburban police department asked the Minneapolis bomb squad for help searching two residences, which did not turn up any explosives, according to the report. It remains unclear if that threat was related to his killing.
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