New York City police were searching on Thursday for the man who killed UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson in a brazen attack outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel before fleeing into Central Park.
Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, was shot from behind on Wednesday morning in what police described as a targeted attack by a masked assailant lying in wait. It came just before the company's annual investor conference at the Hilton on Sixth Avenue.
The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were carved into the shell casings found at the scene, police sources told ABC and the New York Post. Reuters has not independently verified that information.
The words evoke the title of a book critical of the insurance industry published in 2010 titled "Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It." The author, Jay Feinman, a professor emeritus at Rutgers University Law School, wrote, "Sorry, no comment" in an email when contacted by Reuters.
Investigators have not named a suspect and were still looking for a motive, police officials said at a Wednesday press conference.
"Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack," New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters on Wednesday.
Security video showed the shooter behind Thompson, 50, raising his handgun and firing at his back. Police said the gunman arrived outside the hotel several minutes before Thompson and waited for him to walk past before firing, ignoring other passers-by.
The suspect, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and ski mask and wearing a gray backpack, fled on foot before mounting an electric bike and riding into Central Park, police said.
Police have searched a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side where the suspect is believed to have been staying, CNN reported. While he appeared to wear a mask most of the time at the hostel, investigators have recovered at least one image of his face without a covering, the network reported, citing law enforcement sources.
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Police published a number of photographs of the suspect taken from video cameras in the area, including one with the gun raised and pointed toward Thompson and another of the suspect fleeing on a bike.
Other photos captured a glimpse of his eyes, brow and the bridge of his nose as he stood in a cafe, with a caption asking the public for any help in identifying the man.
Gunman murders Brian Thompson
The city has a vast network of cameras, largely built following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that police can use to track suspects' movements.
The killing took place on the morning of the city's annual Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center a few blocks away. The event went ahead as planned under heavy security.
UnitedHealth is the largest U.S. health insurer, providing benefits to tens of millions of Americans, who pay more for healthcare than people in any other country. Thompson, a married father of two, had been the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, since April 2021.
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Police at the scene of the murder of Brian Thompson
(Photo: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters)
The company has been grappling with the fallout from a massive data hack of its Change Healthcare unit that provides technology for U.S. healthcare providers, disrupting medical care for patients and reimbursement to doctors for months.
Thompson had worked at UnitedHealth since 2004 in several divisions, according to a biography later removed from the company's website.
"Our hearts go out to Brian's family and all who were close to him," the company said in a statement.
Thompson's wife, Paulette, told NBC News on Wednesday that he had been receiving some threats related to his job but said she did not know the details.
5 View gallery
Police at the scene of the murder of Brian Thompson
(Photo: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters)
"Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives," she said later in a statement. "Brian was an incredibly loving father to our two sons and will be greatly missed."
Police in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where UnitedHealth is based, and in nearby Minneapolis do not have any records of threats against Thompson.
In Maple Grove, Minnesota, where Thompson lived, police administrator Theresa Keehn told Reuters there were no reports of threats to Thompson, but there was one reported incident of "suspicious activity" at his home in June 2018.
Paulette Thompson was getting ready for bed when she reported seeing the deadbolt turning on their front door, the police report said. She hid in the bathroom "terrified," but police found no sign of an attempted break-in and no one on the property.