Leah covered this story earlier today: Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in what looks like a professional hit job. The targeted killing occurred around 6:45 AM, outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where an investors meeting was being held. In the video footage, the killer is seen shooting Mr. Thompson with a suppressed firearm in the leg and back before finishing him off.
There’s a new chilling clue regarding this premeditated killing: bullet casings were found at the scene, with “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” on them:
JUST IN: NYPD detectives discover words "deny," "defend" and "depose" written on shell casings found at the scene where the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed, police say.https://t.co/gi1o4KrCdF
— ABC News (@ABC) December 5, 2024
This seems like a reference to insurance companies’ “delay, deny, defend” tactics https://t.co/wdyPCTnCuO
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) December 5, 2024
NEW: Killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson wrote "deny", "defend" and "depose" on bullet casings - ABC pic.twitter.com/sPcEfhYkfF
— BNO News (@BNONews) December 5, 2024
Mr. Thompson was the subject of a Justice Department investigation for insider trading (via NY Post):
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice when he was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel on Wednesday.
Thompson — who was killed in what police called a targeted shooting outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown — exercised stock options and sold shares worth $15.1 million on Feb. 16, less than two weeks before news of the federal antitrust probe went public, according to a Crain’s New York Business report from April.
The stock price dropped sharply after the revelation that the DOJ was investigating whether the company had made acquisitions that consolidated its market position in violation of antitrust laws, a source familiar with the probe told the outlet.
Paulette Thompson said her late husband was the subject of death threats (via NBC New York):
Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that the executive told her "there were some people that had been threatening him.” She said she didn't have details, but suggested they may have involved issues with insurance coverage.
"Speaking to other employees that traveled with him to New York, it doesn't seem like he had a security detail," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters. "He left the hotel by himself, was walking, didn't seem like he had any issues at at all."
The suspect, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and carrying a distinct gray backpack, then fled on foot down an alleyway before pedaling an e-bike into Central Park a few blocks away. The shooter was at large, sparking a search that included police drones, helicopters and dogs.
The suspect took off on a Citi Bike, which police hope to use, tracking its “digital exhaust” (via NYT):
An electric Citi Bike like the one reportedly used as a getaway vehicle after the murder of United HealthCare C.E.O. Brian Thompson creates “digital exhaust,” streams of data that can be used to track the rider, said David Shmoys, a computer scientist at Cornell University who helped design the system.
Between the creation of a Citi Bike account, connecting it to a credit card, undocking it, riding it around the city and docking it at a new location, every user creates many “streams of digital breadcrumbs” that can help Lyft, the company that operates Citi Bike, track the user’s location, and possibly their identity, Mr. Shmoys said.
Combined with the user’s phone data and location shared with cell towers, “It is amazing how much information is conveyed,” Mr. Shmoys said.
Jordan Levine, a spokesman for Lyft, declined to describe what data the company has retrieved or shared with the New York Police Department. “We stand ready to assist law enforcement with this investigation,” Mr. Levine said in an email.
Every Citi Bike user must use a credit card to create an account, and the IP address used to do so is recorded, said Brian Muller, a regular Citi Bike user who
participates in a program to redistribute bikes where they’re needed around the city. The credit card could be stolen and the IP address masked to hide the person’s identity, said Mr. Muller, who works as an information technology engineer.
“If the perpetrator was smart, they would have a throwaway Lyft account not associated with their personal accounts,” Mr. Muller said.
Electric Citi Bikes are limited to a speed of up to 18 miles an hour. Because they are slow compared with other kinds of electric bikes, because it takes so much time to rent a Citi Bike, and because so much data is generated every time such a bike is unlocked, Mr. Shmoys said that he was surprised that a gunman in such a high-profile crime would choose to use a Citi Bike at all.
Perhaps the only advantage to using a Citi Bike was timing. The shooting occurred in Midtown Manhattan at 6:44 a.m., when commuters are typically riding thousands of Citi Bikes to office buildings in the area.
“It’s a time of day when there’s a lot of bikes in Midtown,” Mr. Shmoys said.
“Those stations are full.”
Finding this person will take time. His face is obscured. Yet, even when shooters’ faces are caught on video, it could take hours for them to be apprehended. The Times noted Frank James’ 2022 subway shooting. Despite him being caught on camera, it took police 31 hours to arrest him.
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