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

[acutename]

Not one person in the gunman’s life has been able to positively ID him even after his face has been on national (and international) news for days. This is just as crazy to me as the escape plot etc! Who is this guy?? JMO

one word: Bridge Guy
No one could ID him either.

 

[JennieM]

This map shows a timeline of the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024 in New York City. CBS NEWS

NYC hostel at center of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting investigation: "The most significant clue to date"

An NYC hostel is now the focal point of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder investigation, as police search for a person of interest.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[chinacat67]

I do and so do my parents. People who are immunosupressed still do so I don't know. I'm sure people find it odd but I see people with masks on still daily.

I was in Midtown this week, including that morning, and he looks like every third person on the street, and a vast majority of men were wearing masks. It was cold with a bitter wind! The mask standing out is a non starter. I had food delivered several times and mostly bike delivery...all looked almost exactly like this guy..hoodie under puffer with hood, with black balaclava and gloves. He would not have stood out in any way whatsoever. Not odd, not suspicious, very very very common this week in the city.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

Not one person in the gunman’s life has been able to positively ID him even after his face has been on national (and international) news for days. This is just as crazy to me as the escape plot etc! Who is this guy?? JMO

To be fair, it's just portions of his face we've seen, and we also don't know that someone who knows him hasn't notified LE.

 

[Stratocaster]

Re: insurance industry...my wife, as a registered nurse, took a position assessing disability claims for a large insurance company, and being six months into the job and still relatively new, she thought nothing of 'meeting' someone in the lobby to discuss a denied claim with one individual....until three of her co-workers physically stopped her from going to the lobby explaining the volatility of the situation

 

[Inthedetails]

I saw this mentioned earlier & am wondering... didn't we see a shot of him leaving the subway station right before the killing without his bike. There was discussion upthread of where he got the bike - maybe he'd left it nearby, maybe he had an accomplice holding it in the area ... neither of those options sound great to me, are there any other alternatives?
Moo

One alternative I came up with is that he rode his bike from the hostel to the crime scene area and stashed it. Since it was cold that morning, I think he might have ducked into the station (but not actually through the turnstiles) to stay out of the cold while he waited for time to pass.

Not based on fact, just a guess.

jmo

 

[azure]

wonder if someone could have called the Hilton about a delivery to be made to BT and was told "oh he's not here; he's staying across the street."

That would be an incredible violation of policy if so. They aren't even supposed to say your room number out loud to you anymore, because someone could overhear. Plus, how would anyone at the front desk of the Hilton know where he was staying?

 

[Oceans1111]

If I were writing the crime novel version:
-This is tied to the 2/12/24 infiltration of Change Healthcare by ALPHV/Blackcat in which Change Healthcare/UnitedHealth “recognized” the breach on 2/21/24.
-On 2/20/24, Brian Thompson submits Edgar filing related to a $15+ million sale purportedly on 2/16/24.
-On 2/26/24, WSJ reports DOJ ongoing anti-trust investigation into UnitedHealth which allegedly triggers the stock drop and the subsequent insider trading lawsuits; however important to note two things: the scope of the data breach is probably becoming more known internally at UnitedHealth and whispers of that alone could have triggered a stock drop (ie even if WSJ DOJ report had not come out); and not specifically mentioned in the WSJ article was the fact that part of the DOJ investigation was actually a revisit of whether UnitedHealth ever put in the firewalls between its companies (ie Change, Optum, UnitedHealthCare) that it promised to a judge that it would do when judge ruled in favor of United in a 2022 DOJ anti-trust suit at the time of its acquisition of Change Healthcare.
-Sometime in late February, someone at (or some entity connected to) UnitedHealth makes a $22 million ransomware bitcoin payment to ALPHV/Blackcat. ALPHV/Blackcat effectively renegs on promise after receipt of payment. A second darkweb entity RansomHub requests a second ransomware payment from UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth refuses.
-In late May, due to intense concern/probing from Congress, UnitedHealth admits that over 1/3 of all U.S. citizens healthcare data may have been breached in the attack. Not in all cases, but in some cases, this included the breach of CC and bank account payment info, insurance info, medical imaging records, test results, medicines prescribed, Dr case mgmt records, etc.
-In its quarter ending 9/30/24, UnitedHealth increases the expected financial cost of the breach to be $2.87 BILLION.
———-
(Other than speculating that Thompson’s February stock sale may have somehow been related to the underway data breach, all of the above info comes from either the DOJ/court records or - evenentually - by UnitedHeath)
————
(The following is speculative entirely speculative for the novel
————
-Shooter is from Europe and somehow connected to DarkWeb hackers involved in the breach (not a pro, but knowledgeable with weapons, govt data capture endpoints - eg cctv, facial recognition, id, etc).
-His entry point into the U.S. was through Atlanta where, in the suburban areas, there are a fair amount of European/Eastern European money laundering outfits.
-Shooter road bike from 104/Central Park West through the park, exited at either 59th or 60th, and ditched bike in its hideout spot.
-Knowing that police would be able to walk back every moment that he had spent in midtown/NYC streets, he walked to F train at Rockefeller Center 50th/6th and road it one stop to try to obfuscate (even just giving himself an extra few minutes of LE confusion) to 57th/6th stop to make it seem like he had come from downtown (or UES>Bronx).
-After killing Thompson, shooter enters Central Park heads towards west side but stays on West Drive (ie I think leaving park at 60th/CPW at Columbus circle is a red herring (or maybe media confusion of where he exited on his route to the shooting) as it doesn’t make any sense to exit there and then be back on almost constant CCTV (or CPW building cameras) for a portion of the route up to 77th/CPW.

If I were him and made it from the moment of firing bullets at Thompson (@6:45am) to being on 77/CPW within 14 minutes, the one spot I would have tossed my backpack would have been right by Hernshead Rock (google maps in Central Park). It’s the one spot between his entry point and his exit point of Central Park where he could have very quickly, without notice, tossed his backpack in the lake. He seems like he very much practiced this route and for anyone that knows it, it’s the one spot where you can super quickly exit the bike lane and at 7am (even though it’s starting to become a busy spot) could still 95% of the time find a nook to toss something in the lake that would be out of view corridor of anyone that was there.
-The rest seems to be fairly self explanatory per the NYPD press conference today. Exits at 77th > 85th btw CPW and Columbus > drops bike > catches ride (presumably taxi) to GWB bus terminal and bounced town.
-One additional note which I’m sure the NYPD is all over, but shooter would have been going opposite direction of the typical flow of the bike/running lane in Central Park, so that factor likely would trigger recall in some runners/bikers/walkers memory from the morning, albeit with him wearing mask probably doesn’t mean all that much.

 

[chinacat67]

And what's definitely not widely known is that he'd leave at 6:45 to get to an 8 o'clock meeting.

However, anyone who has worked in corporate life can guess you are expected no later than an hour before so 7am and he got there at 630. That's just obvious to me, having worked with corporate guys. Get up, maybe exercise, shower, dress, leave by 630 walk over to be in huddle room by 7. It's not rocket science once he had hotel and that started at 8am

 

[RobSA]

Just had a thought. He's been in NYC 10 days and checked out of the hostel on the morning of the assassination. Did he leave stuff behind at the hostel? I'm assuming the gun was in the backpack and took up a lot of room. Did he have clothes and toiletries over the past 10 days? Where are they?

jmo

This is a big question for me. I think he could have put his other backpack with all his clothes, other jacket in a locker at the GW Bridge station the day before. He could change out of his killing clothes into something totally different. Could possibly have a hat, wig and beard as well.

 

[kamare]

And what's definitely not widely known is that he'd leave at 6:45 to get to an 8 o'clock meeting.

Maybe there was coffee at 7:00 on the agenda.

 

[Big Ears]

Maybe he was calling his kid to say have a good day at school.

I read that he was staying at the Lux, a swanky hotel across the street and down from the Hilton about half a block.

 

[wibbleflea]

Not one person in the gunman’s life has been able to positively ID him even after his face has been on national (and international) news for days. This is just as crazy to me as the escape plot etc! Who is this guy?? JMO

This is really striking but it’s possible that the police have received so many leads that it’s going to take an age to work through them. And people would be understandably reluctant to name the shooter on social media, given the way he treats people he doesn’t like.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Backpack found in Central Park believed to belong to suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, source says | CNN

Detectives investigating the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive have a “reason to believe” the person responsible for the shooting has left New York City, according to police commissioner Jessica Tisch.

amp.cnn.com

<snipped & BBM>
Key evidence, including the bike the suspect rode and the gun used in the killing, is still missing.

The backpack was found in a second sweep of the park Friday evening between some boulders just south of the park’s carousel, according to a source.

 

[Bridger]

Has it occurred to anyone that it's a little odd that we haven't heard the name under which he registered at the hostel? Just that alias might ring a bell with someone--we all know friends' bar names or internet IDs. It's unlikely it would be helpful for the masses to know this, but it could be. Wonder why that hasn't been publicized?

 

[wibbleflea]

However, anyone who has worked in corporate life can guess you are expected no later than an hour before so 7am and he got there at 630. That's just obvious to me, having worked with corporate guys. Get up, maybe exercise, shower, dress, leave by 630 walk over to be in huddle room by 7. It's not rocket science once he had hotel and that started at 8am

Exactly right.

 

[GMG1999]

Not one person in the gunman’s life has been able to positively ID him even after his face has been on national (and international) news for days. This is just as crazy to me as the escape plot etc! Who is this guy?? JMO

I think they may already know who he is, just not admitting they know his name.

 

[Namastoner]

Or was instructed to by whoever hired him. It didn’t seem personal to the killer at all. He was just the executioner.

In the video of the last moments of BT it does not appear that the perp is aiming for the lower area, it seems more likely that he tilted his aim down slightly in anticipation of the recoil

 

[MassGuy]

Backpack found in Central Park believed to belong to suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, source says | CNN

Detectives investigating the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive have a “reason to believe” the person responsible for the shooting has left New York City, according to police commissioner Jessica Tisch.

amp.cnn.com

<snipped & BBM>
Key evidence, including the bike the suspect rode and the gun used in the killing, is still missing.

The backpack was found in a second sweep of the park Friday evening between some boulders just south of the park’s carousel, according to a source.

Hopefully the gun is in that bag; I imagine it is.

Apparently it’s going to take a while before they actually open it (forensics on the outside).

 

[BackInNewMexico]

To be fair, it's just portions of his face we've seen, and we also don't know that someone who knows him hasn't notified LE.

Hmm, it just seems like a ‘good enough’ shot of his face and he has distinct features. Surely if he went to school/work/participated in society in any way people would recognise him. Let alone closer family and friends who IMO it’s a good enough shot of him for them to recognise.

I know LE get loads of tips but surely “I’m the parent etc” gets checked and fast tracked if it comes in. The fact the manhunt continues makes me question if very few or any people know him in the USA?