NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #4

[19thcenturynovel]

I'm looking at this from the UK. Even if the authorities haven't released his name, surely his name would have been leaked online from people who know him. The smiling photo is a pretty recognisable image.

 

[thefragile7393]

Gunman hired by estranged wife or angry mistress/lover angle?

sloppy gunman if true

 

[Furore]

sloppy gunman if true

Agreed. Also, it seems significant to me that this was done on the day of an investor conference.

I agree with previous commentators in these threads who have found the statement from the wife a little bit odd…it did make a bit more sense when it came out they live separately

 

[kaen]

Personal could be insurance claim denied, could be anger at getting ripped off by alleged insider trading, job cut (his own or loved one) or other personal relationship. We have no idea about the life of Mr. Thompson except he lived separately from his wife and and kids in addition to his extensive travel for work. Hopefully we will soon know the motive.

 

[BackInNewMexico]

And "deny" is the most important word in the context of patients and families being upset regarding disallowed services.

Agree, without ‘Deny’ the whole insurance claim denial theory is less strong. IMO writing a message on the bullet casings is such a STRONG message, why would you want to reuse/butcher someone else’s message.
CNN said one message was on a live round on the ground and another on one that hit BT. I’m sure it’s possible there’s other casings/words.
The reporting jump to the words on casings being related to the book felt fast to me (I guess because of BT’s role in an insurance company) but I can’t convince myself it’s 100% the intention yet. JMO

 

[acutename]

Find my iPhone? Airtag? Does seem like someone knew exact movements. GPS even.

I did wonder if an airtag was stuck on him... on his shoe? but it would not be easy to do; it could detach; he could find it... seems remote. If it were on a piece of luggage, maybe but he was not carrying anything.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

It's been theorized on here that one of the reasons so few people have spoken to the press about the suspect, and why LE has gotten few if any credible leads, is because there is widespread sympathy for the shooter and his "cause" (assuming he was an ideologue). Case in point: earlier today in Manhattan's Washington Square Park there was an unofficial Shooter Lookalike Contest. Make of this what you will:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1865462468954161214

I think the "widespread" sympathy is exaggerated. It is hardly the majority of the millions of people on social media, and it doesn't tell you anything about the many millions that aren't even on social media.
As far as the contest, I watched the participants trickle in, I believe there was 8 of them, and they had to go around and try to get others to engage with them. They got a couple of people to "judge". There was really very little interest from bystanders, who appeared to be unaware of what they were doing.

 

[CityKid]

6th Ave= Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.

Right, but the poster said W 6th, and there's one in Brooklyn but not in the city.

 

[Mr applebee]

I think it would be difficult to have studied all the executives in enough detail to recognise them on the street, it is often really hard to recognise people from photos, but the shooter did not hesitate. He shot BT and only BT despite all the other people nearby. The timing was also so perfect. I do struggle to see how he could have known where and at precisely what time BT would be in position, without help though!

Yeh that’s the one thing that’s baffling me. He was there for 10 days, all to lead up to that small moment in time when BT exited the hotel. BT had only arrived there the day prior. How the hell did he know BT would be exiting alone at that time? Accomplice? That’s either some very accurate info that he’s received from somewhere/someone, or it’s some insanely good luck.

 

[eddie_van]

Agree, without ‘Deny’ the whole insurance claim denial theory is less strong. IMO writing a message on the bullet casings is such a STRONG message, why would you want to reuse/butcher someone else’s message.
CNN said one message was on a live round on the ground and another on one that hit BT. I’m sure it’s possible there’s other casings/words.
The reporting jump to the words on casings being related to the book felt fast to me (I guess because of BT’s role in an insurance company) but I can’t convince myself it’s 100% the intention yet. JMO

to me it means "deny" is most likely written on a bullet but it just didn't get found at the scene for whatever reason. delaying is a very common thing that goes on with health insurance as well, so to me the delay word is a very strong indicator. I think he deliberately replaced "defend" with "depose" to indicate that the CEO has been deposed. all my opinion.

 

[MassGuy]

CEO shooting NYC: NYPD detectives travel to Atlanta – NBC New York

https://twitter.com/x/status/1865531547434229860

 

[x_files]

Hope police are checking class syllabi for reading requirements. The book referenced that is critical on health insurance isn't likely to be read by someone that young unless mandated.

JMO.

You underestimate people's desire to learn on their own.

 

[soap mama]

The lookalike contest is imo a very in bad taste gen z meme. So much of a gen z joke that it comes with no explanation. I think the genesis of it is that there was a recent unofficial and off the books Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest organized in NYC. It garnered police presence, some people were even arrested. Chalamet himself even appeared. He also offered to pay for the trespassing tickets that people received.

Basically, the perp kind of looks like Chalamet to some. Chalamet has had a rep as kind of a hero, a guys guys but also soft and feminine, very appealing to ladies. The lore of this perp and the politics of terrible healthcare policy in the US align. All sides of the politics spectrum have grievances with US healthcare. As a joke, some of the same flyers that were used to organize the unofficial Chalamet contest appeared on light poles and then on social media. It’s just crude humor for TikTok, I don’t think there’s any politics to it whatsoever. IMO none of those kids would be harboring this perp.

Chalamet reminds me of Domingo from SNL

 

[soap mama]

Circling back to the "exiting the subway" pic, bit pics of straps do "v" in, but the top of the backpack is fuller in the shooting pic.

What are your thoughts?

 

[nao]

Moo...I am starting to feel this is more of a business hit. He knows to much, kinda thing..moo

 

[Parsnip]

in many ways kind of makes him a pawn which might be unpopular to say

Just to be clear, I DO NOT condone vigilante violence. I was attempting to adopt the killer’s mindset. He (the killer) might not care at all about the actual power behind the industry. The symbolism would be sufficient. And tbh, I think the killer is likely a thrill killer who just looked for a “socially acceptable” excuse for his actions. I don’t really think the whole thing had much to do at all about the victim’s perceived culpability in a corrupt system. Moo. I think it was all about attention.

 

[Chili Fries]

Seems to me that the shooter probably would have wanted to see Brian in person at some point before the assassination to be sure of his target. Appears that there were only those professionally taken headshots of him online before this happened and I can't find any videos of him so my guess is that part of the shooter's plans would have been seeing Brian in real life first.

 

[MassGuy]

Circling back to the "exiting the subway" pic, bit pics of straps do "v" in, but the top of the backpack is fuller in the shooting pic.

What are your thoughts?

I really think that image isn’t even of him. It wasn’t released by law enforcement as far as I know, as if you watch the video, it’s taken by a cell phone camera pointed at a computer screen (the image is moving in a way a camera would not).

Whenever we see this, it’s someone from the media who has asked a security guard or something to view the video.

So unless I’m missing something, I believe police went there and took a copy of that video, but probably later determined it was another person.

Then the media went there and did their thing, probably after hearing that police had been there.

 

[al66pine]

Fake Driver's License? Hostel.

.... I would, however, be very interested to know how convincing the fake NJ driver’s license was.

@citizen_sleuth Snipped for focus.
I've missed many posts & details, so am sorry if already discussed.
If hostel where the shooter stayed had a policy of not accepting guests who live w'in 75 (or whatever) miles, seems procedures would be in place to check ID, either online w reservations or at in-person check in, or both.

Someone else posted that hostel employees would not necessarily be familiar w details of drivers licenses from other states.

Doubting that employees' lack of personal knowledge would be a barrier to ferreting out fake DL's, as there are multiple websites w SAMPLE IMAGES of every states' licenses.*

Shooter may have "slipped thru" w bogus DL.

FWIW, no link, but some states do not require photo on DL, if applicant objects due to religious reasons.

imo

ETA: Req'mts to get NJ license or non-driver ID.
"NEW JERSEY STANDARD LICENSE & NON-DRIVER ID REQUIREMENTS"

https://www.nj.gov/mvc/pdf/license/Standard_License_Sheet_Engl.pdf

________________________________
* What a driver's license looks like in every state

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1ei1krh/driver_license_design_in_each_state_dc

 

[krikken]

Agree, without ‘Deny’ the whole insurance claim denial theory is less strong. IMO writing a message on the bullet casings is such a STRONG message, why would you want to reuse/butcher someone else’s message.
CNN said one message was on a live round on the ground and another on one that hit BT. I’m sure it’s possible there’s other casings/words.
The reporting jump to the words on casings being related to the book felt fast to me (I guess because of BT’s role in an insurance company) but I can’t convince myself it’s 100% the intention yet. JMO

Maybe there were originally four - the three in the title plus "depose" (the final shot, coup de grace). But it didn't go exactly as planned with the weapon's action.