NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #5

[sas0807]

As much as I firmly believe he was not wearing a mask or prosthetics or makeup in the getaway cab photos.

I just saw someone point this out on X. And now I can’t unsee it or decide if he may actually have noticed something big. I’m still on the fence.

What do you think?

The man on X points to the neck in this photo and says it looks like the neck part of the mask is not tucked in. Upon zooming in… the neck does look very odd… could just be camera angle.

I was very dismissive of this possibility….

What are your thoughts?

I was looking at this before and the neck does look CRAZY if you stare at it for long enough but idk if it's just the angle. I also didn't even see the driver in the other photo so maybe I'm not the best to judge lol

 

[MassGuy]

Agreed. What baffles me is the lack of recognition/admission by those from his community. Especially from his generation. Glued to their phones and searching for the next viral moment. Im sure people have come forward, but at this stage you’d think there’d be gen z treasure trove of tik toks saying “know this guy! He was in my class!”
All this, of course, under the assumption he went school here.
Just such an intriguing case all around.

An issue might be that lots of people have come forward. It would take time to research all of the people that have been named, and then longer to do a deep dive on the ones that look like good matches.

I do think they have someone they are looking into, but they might be playing it like they did with Kohberger, surveilling his location and hoping to collect DNA.

We just have absolutely no idea how many tips have come in, the quality of those tips, where law enforcement is in regards to vetting them, etc. I do think Adams slipped today when he said they had a name, and he was told to correct the record because they didn't want that out there.

 

[Simply Southern]

All true, but on top of that worth pointing out it is far from rare to see someone wearing those in NYC or the surrounding areas. All types, all ages. Less than a few years ago, sure, but plenty of it around.

All true. I think the surgical mask was a cover if he rode the bus. He could spin a tail ... I'm immune suppressed due to treatment. He can pretend to doze off and not have to talk to anyone on the bus. Also gaining a little sympathy.

Moo

 

[otto]

I don't think the authorities would publish pictures if they weren't sure. They know for a fact he was at the hostel, at the Starbucks, and in that taxi. Detectives most certainly questioned the hostel receptionist and the two other guests in the room, the Starbucks personnel, and the taxi driver about his demeanor, clothing, behavior etc.

There appear to be 4 cameras at reception. He arrived on Nov 24. He killed on Dec 4. How long do they keep footage?

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[EBW321]

I was looking at this before and the neck does look CRAZY if you stare at it for long enough but idk if it's just the angle. I also didn't even see the driver in the other photo so maybe I'm not the best to judge lol

Exactly! And now it’s bothering me and I need other peoples input. Lol since I’m clearly terrible at noticing things other people see easily.

 

[whitelilac]

As much as I firmly believe he was not wearing a mask or prosthetics or makeup in the getaway cab photos.

I just saw someone point this out on X. And now I can’t unsee it or decide if he may actually have noticed something big. I’m still on the fence.

What do you think?

The man on X points to the neck in this photo and says it looks like the neck part of the mask is not tucked in. Upon zooming in… the neck does look very odd… could just be camera angle.

I was very dismissive of this possibility….

What are your thoughts?

I don't see anything particularly odd about it other than the fact the the lower part of his face looks lumpy...double masked and possibly has a short beard. The pic that was published beside these, the chin area also has a more protruding area that appears he might have a beard.

 

[snarast]

Exactly! And now it’s bothering me and I need other peoples input. Lol since I’m clearly terrible at noticing things other people see easily.

Emm the chin looks bizarre - but is that angle or artistic pixelation? Nooo idea.

 

[Warwick7]

The unmasked photos are called the "money shots" because he only removed his mask to flirt. He wasn't disguised at that time - didn't expect flirting, but couldn't resist.

View attachment 550051

Someone somewhere is going to recognize him....

 

[flipp]

That looks great. What if you move the lower part of the face more to his right and down 2 bits?

photoshop take 2: not sure it will get much better than this, since the two camera angles are different but it's much less uncanny valley.

 

[otto]

These threads move so fast. Does anyone find it a bit weird that an individual who was in NYC to assassinate the CEO of a large medical insurance company would stay at a hostel? When I think of hostels I think of bare bones accommodation where you stay in dorms and share bathrooms. And everyone is kind of nosy or really friendly about where you're going, where you've been, what are your plans, etc. It certainly doesn't seem to be the kind of place that a guy who was going to go assassinate a CEO with a checklist of what he needed, when he needed them, how he was going to get from point A to B and do it with other people around. You certainly wouldn't be anonymous in a hostel. I looked up the HI Hostel and it basically follows that set up: dorm rooms for 4, 6, 8 people and up. And they share a bathroom. And they follow the hostel philosophy; welcome parties, hosting get-togethers, etc. There's a couple of rooms of private 4 bed rooms and one with a bathroom ensuite. That's it. So when this guy checked in, what room did he get? Would it seem odd if he asked for a private 4 bed room? Did he even stay there? Can you come and go at anytime during a 24 hour period? Would a guest be able to exit the hostel without going through the front entrance?

Then there's the issue with the e-bike and being seen carrying a bike battery. That seems to be the main anti-theft device for bike owners - take the battery with you. Sort of like how regular bike owners remove the seats sometimes to avoid thefts. So was he a bike owner/user or was he coming prepared to steal a bike that had no battery?

LE believe the bus he came to NYC on originated in Atlanta. LE is looking into when he boarded the bus assuming it was either from Atlanta or one of the transfer stops. There's buses that drive straight from Atlanta to NYC that take about 17 hours with minimum 5 comfort stops along the way and buses that take up to 30 hours with several transfers in Charlotte, Columbia or Raleigh. To make it even more complicated they have buses that transfer and stop in places like Washington, DC and Baltimore and Newark. So he could have gotten on in any of those locations.

It's difficult for me to see him planning this by himself. Yeah, he did walk up behind a man and shoot him in the back. He did that all by himself but where was he all those days between him arriving in NYC on the 24th and the killing? He was there for 10 days or at least left clues that gave the impression that he was in NYC for 10 days.

There are 670 beds in the hostel. It sounds like he was staying in a room with two others who reported that he never took off his mask.

I wonder whether he blended in with so many people passing like ships in the night.

HI New York City – Hostelling International

 

[MassGuy]

I find it puzzling for lack of a better word that he went to McDonalds, Starbucks (such typical American companies), was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger jacket, and it now turns out he actually spent more time in NYC than previously thought. The type of things a tourist (from a country with not many American brands/companies available at home) visiting the US for the first time would do. I don't know if it is simply coincidence or there's something in all this that LE can ''read'' to try finding him.

I mean, it's what I would do. I'm not a Starbucks fan, but you'd have me on camera a bunch of times at Mcdonalds and Dunkin Donuts. I'd exclusively go to places I was familiar with.

None of that foreign stuff works for me on any level. I'd have to ignore everything we have here, and then believe something that just doesn't happen with any regularity. If he's foreign, he was here to do a hit.

He should have used a revolver, yet pointlessly used a highly unusual, expensive weapon.
There was absolutely no need to write messages on those rounds.
There was no need to leave Monopoly money in that bag.
There was no need to take a bus up the coast.
There was no need to stay in a hostel.
If this is a situation where one believes he had support, then there's no reason to spend that long in the US. This could have been planned and executed in a much shorter period of time. That person should also show up on camera, and law enfacement would know.
His shooting was sub par, and he didn't give the coup de grace. He couldn't know for sure this guy was mortally wounded.
There was no reason to dress so fashionably.
There was no reason to carry a very conspicuous bag around with him, that made him insanely easy to track.

There's things were necessary to him though, which is why I think this is personal issue to him in some way.

 

[SlimPickens]

Within the broad range of options and outcomes, one that was mentioned earlier was a foreign connection. It is a possibility if this was a murder-for-hire. For example, in recent press reporting Iran contracted the Canadian Hell's Angels to have a local kill someone on an Iranian hit list in the U.S.

Considering the nature of high finance, there is no telling what the spiderweb of connections looks like at this time. The percentage chance of this is very low, but it remains within a spectrum of potentials. People follow patterns.

The pattern in this example is an external entity hires a third party national to contract out the hit in a separate country. It can be nations, or businesses, or criminal networks outsourcing the work. The pattern is an established one. European mafia hits follow this pattern pretty regularly. However, again, the percentage chance of this is low. (Recent example: Iranian hired Hells Angel to kill defector, US says.)

Indeed. And don't forget about the so called 'dark web' where murder-for-hire can purportedly be retained by anyone, and from anywhere. Crypto is an indiscriminate, essentially untraceable currency.

JMO.

 

[TailSpin]

Someone somewhere is going to recognize him....

I'm thinking either LE already has leads on his identity and keeping this info from the public or else there are no leads and the odds of getting one are getting slimmer every day. Someone who planned his escape route so thoroughly must have though about if people who know him could identify him from a picture. Safe to assume he has no police file and keeps a low profile. It would be problematic to explain why you have been away for 10 days on your own.

 

[MassGuy]

Indeed. And don't forget about the so called 'dark web' where murder-for-hire can purportedly be retained by anyone, and from anywhere. Crypto is an indiscriminate, essentially untraceable currency.

JMO.

All those people who try to arrange hits on there wind up getting scammed. I’ve never found a documented case of a hit actually bit carried out, at least in America.

Lots of people have either lost their shirt financially, or their freedom from trying though.

 

[flipp]

As much as I firmly believe he was not wearing a mask or prosthetics or makeup in the getaway cab photos.

I just saw someone point this out on X. And now I can’t unsee it or decide if he may actually have noticed something big. I’m still on the fence.

What do you think?

The man on X points to the neck in this photo and says it looks like the neck part of the mask is not tucked in. Upon zooming in… the neck does look very odd… could just be camera angle.

I was very dismissive of this possibility….

What are your thoughts?

I mentioned this earlier but there is something really, really off about the whole nose-mouth-chin-neck profile. it looks like something under the mask is sagging and creating really bizarre lines. The neck is strange, it could be a play of light or that could be a piece of prosthetic / silicone mask that is not tucked in. The shadow that follows the neck right up to the ear line / where the mask rests, is just unusual. Very dark and solid and undisturbed, like it's casting its own shadow. I am still convinced there is heavy use of highlighter around the eyes too which can drastically change their shape so it would not surprise me if some kind of disguise is being used, and if it's falling off / out of place due to all the costume changes and racing around the city. Not to mention sweating under the masks.

 

[Gemmie]

The man arrived by bus and stayed at a hostel, and roommates said he kept his mask on the entire time, even while eating, only pulling it down to take a bite.

Timeline: UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione’s movements before and after arrest

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down last week in front of a busy New York City hotel.

www.nbcnews.com

IMO him wearing his mask the entire time at the hostel, and only pulling it down to take a bite of food might be Covid related, and not that he was necessarily trying to hide his face. I say that because I won't go around anyone without a mask, and if that was me at a hostel, I'd take my food outside so I didn't have to pull down my mask for a quick second to take a bite. So, I can see someone doing that because of not wanting to catch Covid while rooming with a bunch of strangers. JMO!

 

[Columbo Was The Best]

I mean, it's what I would do. I'm not a Starbucks fan, but you'd have me on camera a bunch of times at Mcdonalds and Dunkin Donuts. I'd exclusively go to places I was familiar with.

None of that foreign stuff works for me on any level. I'd have to ignore everything we have here, and then believe something that just doesn't happen with any regularity. If he's foreign, he was here to do a hit.

He should have used a revolver, yet pointlessly used a highly unusual, expensive weapon.
There was absolutely no need to write messages on those rounds.
There was no need to leave Monopoly money in that bag.
There was no need to take a bus up the coast.
There was no need to stay in a hostel.
If this is a situation where one believes he had support, then there's no reason to spend that long in the US. This could have been planned and executed in a much shorter period of time. That person should also show up on camera, and law enfacement would know.
His shooting was sub par, and he didn't give the coup de grace. He couldn't know for sure this guy was mortally wounded.
There was no reason to dress so fashionably.
There was no reason to carry a very conspicuous bag around with him, that made him insanely easy to track.

There's things were necessary to him though, which is why I think this is personal issue to him in some way.

I have a different opinion on the shooting which I think was carried out exactly as he wanted to, shot to the calf to give the victim a few seconds to realise he was going to die, shot on the back, and the video shows he then walked pass by the deceased and looked at him to check he was mortally wounded.
The length of time in NYC would be completely necessary if this was a new city for him on this assignment.
The choice of eating places/choice of brands still intrigues me and I think there's something to it. Jmoo.

 

[otto]

I mentioned this earlier but there is something really, really off about the whole nose-mouth-chin-neck profile. it looks like something under the mask is sagging and creating really bizarre lines. The neck is strange, it could be a play of light or that could be a piece of prosthetic / silicone mask that is not tucked in. The shadow that follows the neck right up to the ear line / where the mask rests, is just unusual. Very dark and solid and undisturbed, like it's casting its own shadow. I am still convinced there is heavy use of highlighter around the eyes too which can drastically change their shape so it would not surprise me if some kind of disguise is being used, and if it's falling off / out of place due to all the costume changes and racing around the city. Not to mention sweating under the masks.

Or an optical illusion due to lighting.

 

[MassGuy]

IMO him wearing his mask the entire time at the hostel, and only pulling it down to take a bite of food might be Covid related, and not that he was necessarily trying to hide his face. I say that because I won't go around anyone without a mask, and if that was me at a hostel, I'd take my food outside so I didn't have to pull down my mask for a quick second to take a bite. So, I can see someone doing that because of not wanting to catch Covid while rooming with a bunch of strangers. JMO!

He could sell it as Covid related, but it couldn't have been anything other than intentional as I see it. He was trying to get away with this, and showing his face would have done him in. A mask was absolutely necessary, hence the hood too.

 

[SlimPickens]

The NYC shooter strikes me as someone who is meticulous, methodical, patient, intelligent with a sense of humour, and whose life may have been ruined, or significantly changed, by something with insurance. I wonder whether it’s something like the family lost their farm because of insurance delay, deny and defend. The animal euthanizer gun makes me think farm.

Hes making a statement, but it seems more personal than stridently making a general statement.

My initial thought was that the gun symbolized his viewing the CEO as little more than a glorified animal he was about to violently "depose", but yours is certainly an interesting take. When you mentioned a farm, I immediately thought of Orwell and how many folks use his works to justify whatever extreme ideology they evangelize. In the case against insurance, I suppose a quote like "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" would apply if one felt that the current capitalist/subsidy model was unjust.

JMO.