NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #3

[DS2021]

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[wibbleflea]

This makes me think the guy was hired or something. Someone who was out for revenge (or personally involved) would not behave so relaxed and cavalier IMO.

Maybe. A hired gun would be discreet, you'd think. But no – this guy was so carefree. A multi-day hostel stay? And I didn't mention the most obvious thing: an assassination in midtown Manhattan. It beggars belief.

 

[SRWCF]

I will thinking it was a night away to spend in pleasure, but I'm just guessing of course. 10 days of non-stop work - he might have wanted a break for a night. Speculation only.

Or maybe he needed privacy for some planning tasks that he couldn't get at the hostel. Idk.

jmo

Well, that would fit his MO so far. Stop at a Starbucks literally minutes before the murder, go assassinate someone, then find a lady to spend the evening with.

 

[indicolite22]

And yet he got the job done and remains on the loose. Seems rather competent to me.

jmo

Remains on the loose... probably not for long. I wonder how he will react to being captured.

 

[JennieM]

A poster with a $10,000 reward advertised is attached to a lamppost near the scene of the shooting. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

Clues emerge but no arrests yet as New York police hunt health CEO’s killer

Brazen shooting in Manhattan turns up evidence including video and bullets but, two days on, suspect remains at large

www.theguardian.com

 

[CrimeDawg123]

Not gonna lie, I think I'm buying this backpack for one of my kids for Christmas. Not the company's desired marketing plan, but I do wonder if sales are going up!

jmo

It does look like a nice backpack for travelling.

 

[JennieM]

Remains on the loose... probably not for long. I wonder how he will react to being captured.

Maybe he expects to be captured but was prepared to do it anyway.

 

[MassGuy]

So far very competent.

It's weird.

The planning here was incredibly detailed, and I think this guy is going to turn out to be quite intelligent.

But the fact that he carried out this crime, in this place, in this way, is insane. Even if he was perfect, which he absolutely was not, he had no reasonable chance of getting away with this; not with all those cameras.

He did everything in his power to cover his tracks, but slipped up with the mask, that Starbucks stop, and dropping his phone.

I give him credit for how long this has gone on, which is a testament to that extensive planning. But it's only a matter of time before he is captured, and when that happens, they'll have him dead to rights.

 

[vls12345]

I wonder if he will try to travel by small plane? Maybe depends on connections he or, if he was hired, his employer has. I would think commercial airlines would be risky for him, probably Greyhound & Amtrack at this point... Jmo.

 

[K.jill]

NYPD asks Atlanta Police for assistance in case where UnitedHealthcare CEO killed

The news comes a day after CNN reported the suspect traveled to New York by a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta.

www.11alive.com

Atlanta police assisting with investigation into who shot, killed UnitedHealthcare CEO

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, died in the dawn ambush Wednesday.

www.wsbtv.com

APD asked to assist NYPD with CEO’s shooting death; person of interest may have taken bus back to Atlanta

New York police have tapped Atlanta police in their investigation of the man who shot and killed a CEO in New York on Wednesday, APD confirmed on Friday.

www.atlantanewsfirst.com

Interesting. He must have gotten on the bus in Atlanta.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

A poster with a $10,000 reward advertised is attached to a lamppost near the scene of the shooting. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

Clues emerge but no arrests yet as New York police hunt health CEO’s killer

Brazen shooting in Manhattan turns up evidence including video and bullets but, two days on, suspect remains at large

www.theguardian.com

Is is just me or does $10K seem on the cheap side?

 

[BrianJohnson]

He must have been in contact with someone with inside knowledge of BT's schedule. He was waiting almost to the exact minute when he came out of the hotel.

Agree, just doesn’t seem like someone who was mad because a loved one died because their claim was declined. They may be wanting LE and public to think that by markings on the bullets resembling that book but imho that is a smokescreen to take LE off the scent, whoever did this had knowledge of his movements that could only be provided by someone very close to BT

 

[Columbo Was The Best]

Not gonna lie, I think I'm buying this backpack for one of my kids for Christmas. Not the company's desired marketing plan, but I do wonder if sales are going up!

jmo

I won't be buying it this Christmas (its cost is one fifth of my monthly salary as a teacher!!) but I signed up for the mailing list a few minutes ago as I really like the compartments it has, very unique (and useful!) design. Might be getting it before my trip to Norway next summer. Yes, I think sales are probably going up!

 

[penguinface]

Why did he check out and back into the hostel? That part is odd to me. Almost like he got Brian’s schedule wrong/then realized he’d need to stay an extra few days?

Maybe a (one day belated,) Thanksgiving visit to family for a night?

 

[x_files]

Interesting. Do the CEOs actually get involved in denials? I used to work for physicians at a level 1 trauma center and we had to get peer to peer reviews all the time. I have never had one go to the CEO. It was always MDs doing the reviews and talking to the treating physicians. They were the step above the nurses who did the second denial after it was denied by the lay people working for the insurance. We always had the different company policies for every procedure on hand prior to trying to get things approved. It was a lot of time and work in many cases. But i never had any go to the CEO who isn’t usually medically trained. Many of the denial policies have been in place for a very long time. They never take into consideration that every patient is different and medicine isn’t exact and can vary by patient. They have checklists they follow and do not deviate.

Looks like they were using AI last year to deny claims, not humans, and a lawsuit was pending:
"One criticism of UnitedHealthcare that has garnered attention following the shooting involves a lawsuit alleging the company uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deny coverage to some elderly patients who are on a Medicare Advantage plan, despite allegedly being aware that the algorithm has a 90 percent error rate."

A year before CEO shooting, lawsuit alleged UHC used AI to deny coverage

The lawsuit accuses UnitedHealthcare of using artificial intelligence to deny coverage to elderly patients.

www.newsweek.com

 

[bamachica]

Inside job imho, another senior exec of the country hiring someone to kill him, BT was facing corruption charges, someone very senior was worried about BT turning supergrass to get a lesser sentence/charges dropped and wanted him silenced forever so he could not implicate others. Whoever killed him knew his movements, what door he uses at the hotel etc

Yep! That’s exactly what I think as well. My thoughts are perhaps the DOJ/inside trading investigation “spooked” someone else that was involved.

Or——perhaps—-pure speculation—-could be someone that lost a ton of $ when the stock price dropped (when the inside trading was revealed). Perhaps retribution for losing $ personally (or a family member or parent lost $ with the stock price nose dive)?

This reeks of a person that was extremely angry and on a personal mission, either for themself or someone close to them IMO. The details, organized planning, thought, & personal messaging over a period of time—-extensive.

Reminds me of the proverb (part of it): Temper, if ungoverned, governs the whole man

 

[Inthedetails]

Is is just me or does $10K seem on the cheap side?

No reward is necessary, imo. The benefit of rewards is they keep a story in the news. When coverage of a crime stops, the family or LE can increase the reward to give media something new to talk about. This case doesn't need that.

I know people think rewards help, but they help by keeping the story alive more than in generating useful tips. Usually, if someone has info to give LE, they will do it because it's the right thing to do, not because of a reward.

jmopinion

 

[Torbs]

I’m interested in his escape path. The 178th Street Bus Terminal is a quiet facility at the Manhattan end of the George Washington Bridge. It isn’t busy like the Port Authority (where he arrived) and there are far fewer long-distance travel options (eg, no service to Atlanta.) Generally speaking it’s best for people traveling between NYC and Bergen County NJ. Greyhound operates through there twice a day as part of their Philly-Boston service but only in the afternoons and evenings. Very curious what he was doing up there because at that time of day his options for busses seem limited to local stuff (either MTA back to Manhattan or jitneys into the NJ burbs). NJ Transit can technically get you to EWR at that time but it’s a two hour route with lots of transfers.

If he left on a bus at that time he either took that very long route to the airport or got off somewhere in NJ.

 

[Jinkasaurus]

Maybe a dumb question.... but I've been wondering how they know he travelled from Atlanta if they don't know who he is? What piece of information would connect to a bus trip and hostel stay but not the actual person?

I thought the fake ID from New Jersey came into play after he was already in NYC. What ID did he use to check in originally at the hostel? Perhaps they connected that one to the bus trip?

 

[penguinface]

IMO that’s why he took a cab over an Uber/Lyft even though they’re more predominant and easier to book.

Also Uber and Lyft are only bookable with a phone, and he’d dropped or ditched his burner by that point. Additionally, he wouldn’t want to use his own regular phone and Uber app, as it would be trackable back to the real ID he used when first opening an Uber account.