The CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare was shot to death on Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack” by a horrifyingly methodical killer using a silenced firearm, police said. announced.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Brian Thompson, 50, repeatedly attacked a masked gunman who was waiting outside the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue, where the CEO was hosting an investor meeting. I was shot.
“Many people passed the suspect, but the suspect appeared to be waiting for his intended target,” she said.
The cold-blooded gunman, who remained on the run late Wednesday, was seen calmly firing multiple shots at Thompson around 6:46 a.m. in disturbing surveillance footage obtained by The Post. .
After being hit by the first bullet, Thompson stumbled and momentarily turned to face the gunman, but the gunman calmly pulled back the slide of his gun after each shot, according to the video. He helplessly tried to crawl away as the gunman fired bullets.
According to law enforcement officials, the gunman not only used a silencer, but also seemed to be skilled enough to use a gun to the extent that he smoothly removed the silencer and continued firing after the gun jammed.
Thompson’s smooth and efficient execution took place in the center of Manhattan, one of the busiest places on earth, in full view of shocked witnesses. Just blocks away from the thousands of tourists who lined up to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting. .
However, the killer’s apparently cautious actions, such as escaping on an electric bicycle to Central Park, where security camera footage is unstable, may be undone when he appears to have dropped a cell phone, an important clue. be.
Investigators are confident the phone found in an alley near the Hilton belongs to the suspect and have obtained a search warrant to thoroughly examine its contents, sources told the Post.
Follow the latest updates on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson:
A search for the suspect was underway as the NYPD and Crime Stoppers offered a $10,000 reward for information.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenney said the motive for the brutal attack remains unclear. As of late Wednesday, a personal or professional grudge had not been ruled out, and law enforcement officials said Thompson had received threats.
“But based on the evidence we have so far, it appears that the victim was specifically targeted,” Kenney said. “But at this point we don’t know why. This does not appear to be a random act of violence.”
Mr. Thompson was highly regarded in his field and earned an annual salary of nearly $9.9 million as head of the nation’s largest private health insurance company, according to the Economic Research Institute.
But his company also has a history of denying controversial claims and faced a Justice Department antitrust investigation.
Police said the shooting occurred a little more than an hour before UnitedHealth’s investor conference was scheduled to begin at the Hilton.
Kenney said the gunman walked to the hotel about five minutes before the shooting.
Witnesses told The Post that the suspect was seen wandering around a hotel on Sixth Avenue. New York City police officials later released a photo showing the alleged gunman inside a nearby Starbucks.
Law enforcement officials say the masked suspect casually purchased a bottle of water and two Power Bars inside a Starbucks store minutes before the shooting.
Sources said Thompson, who was staying at a nearby Marriott, walked into the hotel and was attacked by a masked suspect, Kenney said.
“The perpetrator got up on the sidewalk from behind the car, ignored the numerous other pedestrians, approached the victim from behind, and shot him in the back,” Kenney said. “The gunman then walked toward the victim and continued firing.”
At that point, the gunman’s weapon appeared to be malfunctioning, but he managed to disarm it and continue firing. Kenney said this is evidence the suspect is proficient with firearms.
One witness who was nearby was startled when he heard gunshots, but the witness told PIX11 he saw an armed assassin.
According to PIX11, a witness said, “I heard gunshots.” “I looked around and saw a guy with a gun. He fired three shots and then started running.”
Tisch said Thompson was shot at least once in the back and once in the right calf.
First responders arrived and made a frantic attempt to save Thompson with CPR, but the video shows a harrowing episode.
The man was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m., police said.
The suspect is described as a white male wearing a dark jacket, black face mask and black and white sneakers. Officials said he was wearing a distinctive gray backpack.
Kenney said the suspect first fled through a Ziegfeld alley between 54th and 55th Streets, then jumped on an electric bike. The incident was captured in another surveillance photo.
Kenney said the suspect rode his bike down Avenue of the Americas toward Central Park and was last seen cycling onto Center Drive around 6:48 a.m.
Police recovered three live 9mm rounds and three fired shell casings at the scene, the chief said.
Police officials said they also recovered a cellphone and water bottle that the suspect apparently bought at Starbucks.
Investigators hope to be able to collect fingerprints from spent ammunition, as well as DNA from water bottles and phones, officials said.
Police said a thorough investigation of the surveillance footage was underway, and police were scrutinizing footage near Central Park to trace the shooter’s escape. They are also retrieving video from outside Thompson’s hotel and Marriott to see if the gunman attacked them before the attack, sources said.
Sources said a search through Wednesday afternoon turned up surveillance footage showing the gunman leaving the Frederick Douglass mansion on the Upper West Side around 5 a.m., more than an hour before the shooting. .
Officials said another video showed the gunman leaving from the west side of the park.
The New York Times obtained surveillance footage of a man walking near the scene of the shooting around 6:30 a.m. wearing clothing and a backpack matching the gunman’s signature attire. The man in the video appears to be on the phone.
Kenney said detectives are working with Citi Bike, which installs GPS tracking devices on bicycles, to track the shooter’s ride.
He said the NYPD is “monitoring everything.”
“We’re looking at his social media,” he said. “We are interviewing with employees and families. We will be speaking with Minnesota law enforcement.”
Mr. Thompson leaves behind his wife, Paulette ‘Paulie’ Thompson, 51, and two children in Minnesota.
Paulette Thompson told NBC News her family had received threats.
“There have been some threats,” she said, according to NBC. “Basically I don’t know, is there a lack of reporting? I don’t know the details. All I know is that he said there were people threatening him. That’s all.”
Officials confirmed to the Post that United Healthcare told investigators that Thompson had received threats. Investigators are investigating all of these leads and conducting a thorough investigation, which is not unusual for a healthcare company CEO, the people said.
Paulette Thompson said in a statement to Fox Minnesota that her family was “devastated” by the senseless killing.
“Brian was an incredibly loving, generous and talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched the lives of many,” the statement said. “Most importantly, Brian was an incredibly loving father to our two sons and will be greatly missed.”
Police in Maple Grove, Minn., where the Thompson family lives, responded to one call from the Thompsons’ home, a 2018 incident of “suspicious activity,” and made an arrest with “no criminal activity detected.” told the paper.
The shooting shocked the investor conference, with emotional attendees beginning to cry, Fortune reported.
The slain CEO was “a stand-up guy, a good guy,” one investor who had previously dined with Thompson said, according to Forbes. “I’ve never met anyone who has anything bad to say about him.”
Thompson, who has worked at UnitedHealth for the past 20 years, became CEO in 2021 and was based in the company’s Minnetonka, Minn., office, according to his LinkedIn account.
In promoting Mr. Thompson, Mr. Whitty praised his commitment to the company, the largest private health insurance company in the United States.
“Brian’s experience, relationships, and values will help UnitedHealthcare improve how health care works for consumers, physicians, employers, governments, and other partners and deliver lasting, long-term results. “We are particularly suited to help lead to sustainable growth,” Whitty said at the time.
The executive lived in a five-bedroom home in the North Star State that he bought for $1 million in 2018, according to Zillow.
Mr. Thompson previously served as the company’s director of government programs, including Medicare and retirement plans.
With more than 100,000 employees across the United States, UnitedHealth Group ranks No. 4 on the Fortune 500.
“We are deeply saddened and shocked by the passing of our dear friend and colleague, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson,” the company said in a statement. “Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him. We are working closely with the New York City Police Department and ask for everyone’s patience and understanding during this difficult time. I will.”
Thompson and the company are not without controversy and customer complaints.
The Wall Street Journal first reported in February that he was the subject of a Justice Department antitrust investigation.
A prominent California pension fund then filed a federal lawsuit against Thompson and other UnitedHealthcare executives, accusing them of draining $117 million in company stock before the Justice Department investigation became public. woke up.
Thompson made $15.1 million by selling the stock, the lawsuit alleges.
And UnitedHealthcare has developed a reputation for denying claims, at least in part because it uses an AI model with a 90% error rate to deny coverage. was first reported by Ars Technica.
Mayor Eric Adams sought to reassure New Yorkers that the shooting in one of the nation’s most visible and busiest locations, just blocks and hours away from the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting, was not a random act of violence. did.
“It appears that this was clearly targeted at an individual, so we will arrest that person.”
New York City Police Chief Jeffrey Madley said the shooting would not affect the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree later that night.
Gov. Cathy Hochul said in a statement that the state police will provide whatever the NYPD needs.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz offered prayers for Thompson’s family.
“This is terrible news and a terrible loss for Minnesota’s business and healthcare communities,” he said in a statement.
— Additional reporting by Haley Brown and Larry Celona
