This handout image released by the New York Police Department (NYPD) shows the individual sought in connection to the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Photo / NYPD via AFP
This handout image released by the New York Police Department (NYPD) shows the individual sought in connection to the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Photo / NYPD via AFP
Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said he had received unspecified threats before the killing.
Police have not confirmed a motive, but speculation includes potential revenge for adverse medical coverage decisions.
New York police are scouring the city for a masked gunman who shot a top health insurance executive at close range in a brazen daylight killing outside a Manhattan hotel.
In a hit conducted in front of bystanders and seen by millions on TV replays of security camera footage, the killer used a pistol to gun down Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare – one of the country’s largest medical insurers.
Thompson was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.
Police have yet to suggest a motive and would not confirm a New York Times report that the words “delay” and “deny” – often used by insurance companies to reject claims – were written on shell casings found at the scene.
This handout image released by the New York Police Department (NYPD) shows the individual sought in connection to the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Photo / NYPD via AFP
Video footage shows Thompson on the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown when an unidentified hooded suspect approaches from behind with a handgun and fires several shots at his 50-year-old victim, who crumples on the ground.
Camera footage showed the suspect then fleeing on foot, before getting on a bicycle – which police initially said may have been a rented ebike. Police said he went in the direction of Central Park.
“Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” New York’s police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
NYPD chief of detectives Joseph Kenny would not confirm reports that a silencer was used on the pistol, saying that the question would be part of the investigation, but he did confirm that a cell phone had been recovered from the scene.
The Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan stands where United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot yesterday. Photo / Getty Images
In the absence of an arrest, speculation has been rife that the gunman may have sought to take revenge for adverse medical coverage decisions made by the insurer.
‘Saddened and shocked’
Minnesota-based Thompson’s wife Paulette Thompson told the NBC News outlet that he had received unspecified threats.
“There had been some threats, basically. I don’t know – [over] a lack of coverage? I don’t know details,” said Paulette Thompson who had two children with her late husband.
Brian Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the largest medical insurers in the US.
In a statement, UnitedHealth Group – the parent company of UHC – said it was “deeply saddened and shocked”.
UnitedHealthcare is a major player in the lucrative US healthcare market, providing workplace insurance, as well as administering huge healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid for older and low-income people funded by state budgets.
Pictures of the alleged shooter have been shared by New York Police.
Police remained on the scene of the killing, and have been combing through Manhattan’s iconic Central Park with dogs and drones.
“We have a large detective agency. At any given hour, multiple detectives could be working on [the investigation],” a spokesman for the NYPD said.
“We will be using all our assets that we have.”
The spokesman said that there was no follow-up briefing planned.
UnitedHealth Group had revenues of more than US$100 billion in the third quarter of the year.
