NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #6

[Curiousobserver]

Sharing my running theory on this, based on easily 300+ financial services conferences worked in midtown: 9 times out of 10, there is a dry run the afternoon before, a dress rehearsal of sorts. (You never want your CEO feeling like he’s not sure what he’s doing technologically with mikes and earpieces and teleprompters, and you never want him walking out there blind to announce nine figure earnings). I believe BT was at the IC site the afternoon before, and he walked back after to the hotel where he was staying, probably with multiple colleagues as well as with a relatively large and obtrusive security team. They probably changed in their rooms, met back up in the lobby and had an amazing dinner and cocktails somewhere within 20 blocks. (If i had to guess: Avra). My MOO guess is that the shooter saw at least two, if not three, returns to and departures from that hotel by BH in the 24 hours before. He picked up on the preferences.

That’s exactly how it makes sense- I think you got it

 

[jesse]

Regarding the question of how the suspect knew which hotel Thompson was using - that might have been posted on the conference registration webpage.

When I attended conferences, a specific hotel is recommended during registration. The shooter might have used a false name to partially register for the conference to obtain hotel info. I wonder whether police have looked at partial conference registrations, or no shows, and checked associated IP addresses.

I'm pretty sure information about investor conferences is way less public. I do wonder how the shooter knew which direction BT would be arriving from. It happened at a side door, not the main entrance. He must have known where BT was staying, and I have to believe that is not easily accessible information at all.

 

[rgreene]

Whomever registered BT for the event would have received an Agenda for each Presenter, which day(s), and time schedule, so a full breakdown. Oftentimes this info can be found online without even registering for the event. I don't know how tight this type of event would have been for releasing this info online.

Yes, these investor days aka shareholders meetings are planned way in advance and dates and locations are easily found on the internet. Anyone can attend the meetings but you need to own at least one stock share to vote. The few that I have been to do not have much security at all. At least, I don’t see it. Mostly only big investors (hedge funds, bankers ..) show up and ask a few questions. Companies also Zoom or audio broadcast the meetings.

 

[nao]

Moo...I know when I travel, I do Google map walks. I know the restaurants I will be going to. I am sure he did the same...moo

 

[10ofRods]

Regarding the question of how the suspect knew which hotel Thompson was using - that might have been posted on the conference registration webpage.

When I attended conferences, a specific hotel is recommended during registration. The shooter might have used a false name to partially register for the conference to obtain hotel info. I wonder whether police have looked at partial conference registrations, or no shows, and checked associated IP addresses.

Great thinking there!

Yes. It was publicly announced (I read about it on my brokerage). I of course didn't go through looking into the hotel, but I am not a stock holder and wasn't interested.

I am betting that Lookie Lous/partial registrants are not recorded by IP address - but VPN is easy, so this guy probably evaded that anyway. I'd love to know who was on the list of attendees and how that was generated - it was for "investor interest."

Google probably has info about how many searches were done for the place of this event, and has VPN/IP's for each. But that will take some time.

IMO.

 

[jesse]

Sharing my running theory on this, based on easily 300+ financial services conferences worked in midtown: 9 times out of 10, there is a dry run the afternoon before, a dress rehearsal of sorts. (You never want your CEO feeling like he’s not sure what he’s doing technologically with mikes and earpieces and teleprompters, and you never want him walking out there blind to announce nine figure earnings). I believe BT was at the IC site the afternoon before, and he walked back after to the hotel where he was staying, probably with multiple colleagues as well as with a relatively large and obtrusive security team. They probably changed in their rooms, met back up in the lobby and had an amazing dinner and cocktails somewhere within 20 blocks. (If i had to guess: Avra). My MOO guess is that the shooter saw at least two, if not three, returns to and departures from that hotel by BH in the 24 hours before. He picked up on the preferences.

That's a very good point. There are absolutely full dry runs the day before, and BT would have visited the Hilton for them. The shooter must have been tracking him carefully. I wonder why we haven't seen photos of that yet, though.

 

[Inthedetails]

No and what’s odd is it doesn’t seem LE is actively looking for it? They’ve been searching high and low for the weapon and backpack (understandably) but I find it odd they haven’t put out a BOLO for a black, model ___, brand ___ eBike found somewhere in the city.

I understand it was likely stolen by now but still there doesn’t seem to be much focus (if at all) on the bike.

Maybe they have it so there's no need to ask the public for help finding it. I suspect the bike was stolen by the time LE knew where to look for it (and maybe the theft is on video, lol!). Or, LE has it.

jmopinion

 

[mrstfs]

I'm pretty sure information about investor conferences is way less public. I do wonder how the shooter knew which direction BT would be arriving from. It happened at a side door, not the main entrance. He must have known where BT was staying, and I have to believe that is not easily accessible information at all.

I agree. But I mentioned in previous threads that employees of corporations know which hotels folks typically stay at. When I was in the corporate world, I knew we all stayed at Marriott (company had a contract with them) including execs.

 

[ChrisM]

He needs to get to an area that isn't under constant 24/7 surveillance before he can try blending in somewhere. Otherwise he will just be continuously tracked.

that seems about right! and really, just about what he did do... twice: once through CP and the second through GW PA bus station. each seemed to work successfully in his favour, the first by losing the backpack, the second by losing the city.

 

[fashionella]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>
my son got his fake ID in chinatown, you can pick the state. Unfortunately guns are easy too. Options traders are literally college kids who know nothing and eat crayons. See Wall Street Bets.

 

[kae27]

I think NASDAQ/NYSE disagrees - which is why they are required to do such things as notify NYSE if there is insider sell-off - or meetings with the public involving investment.

The big difference is that when I buy shares unsolicited, it is marked by my brokerage (which is one of the big, compliant ones).

Soliciting shares is under constant review by court. A powerpoint can make it solicitation, if it contains certain (possibly unverified) facts about earnings.

You yourself admit they are "trying to interest investors." I translate that as "trying to sell them shares." They aren't trying to sell t-shirt (although they probably do).

This is about what the attendees are told, and surely, attendees are interested in buying - do you disagree? You think people just show up at an event like this, kind of random-like? Who are these interested institutional investors of which you speak?

At any rate, the announcement of where and when such a thing is held is supposed to be public. Not necessarily press release, but certain compliant with the rules of public trading.

I'm not speaking about methods of selling shares.

I am saying that this particular meeting was not secret.

If it was closed in some sense to regular investors, they still had ways to find out about it. This is something that is probably best researched on our own - but I am convinced that this particular meeting (a chance to sell shares - you can disagree - was for potential investors).

Someone (or many people) knew about it and disapproved.

IMO.

With all due respect...

I have been in charge of the legal aspects of corporate governance for several Fortune 500 companies, including a Fortune 50 company. And much of what you state here is simply not legally correct. The NYSE and Nasdaq do not "disagree" about whether investor conferences are appropriate. And there is no requirement from either exchange as to reporting whether "there is an insider sell-off." That is an SEC regulation, not a stock exchange one, and is not in any way connected to such conferences, at which NO trades are made or solicited.

A large number of the statements in the following paragraphs are also incorrect, but I don't post this to nitpick one-by-one. I simply want to make clear that investor conferences are not unusual or uncommon in any respect nor are they frowned upon by the exchanges or (more importantly) the SEC, so long as the information shared does not constitute material non-public information (or if it does, such information is simultaneously publicly disclosed). And these conferences have absolutely nothing to do with presenting an opportunity to buy or sell shares.

I do agree with your assertion that the conference was "not secret."

 

[smalleagles]

Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to “first, do no harm.”

I don’t think this man looks old enough to even be a doctor yet. At the most he could be in med school, but not have done his residency yet and not be in practice long enough to anguish over the deadly games played by the big insurance companies.

Nobody who wants to be a doctor is going to murder someone in cold blood to “save all the others.”

Masks are still worn by many to protect against disease, and in this case to hide his identity. Ever since Covid, a mask does not equal “doctor.”

He wore a balaclava to hide his face before he wore a surgical mask.

Not a doctor.

IMO

RSBBM

Respectfully, many doctors have committed crimes resulting in harm despite having taken the Hippocratic Oath - not saying he is a doctor, but that would not preclude him from committing a crime.

MOO

 

[wibbleflea]

Eh, that would be very risky as the subject wouldn't have known whether police had identified him or not at that point. Far safer to cross a land border and then take a flight from there.

JMO

Essentially zero chance of that. An assassination is carried out and the police find a person in NYC by working backwards through hundreds of hours of video footage and identify, within hours, a man staying at a hostel? He was masked the entire time, with one exception. He used a burner phone. He paid cash. They did brilliantly but there’s a limit to how fast any team can work.

 

[Inthedetails]

That's a very good point. There are absolutely full dry runs the day before, and BT would have visited the Hilton for them. The shooter must have been tracking him carefully. I wonder why we haven't seen photos of that yet, though.

I don't think we'll get much if anything about the 10 days in NYC until after he is caught. It might be mundane stuff but it might be creepy like scoping out other targets and gathering info. I hope not.

jmo

 

[KMouse]

Moo...I know when I travel, I do Google map walks. I know the restaurants I will be going to. I am sure he did the same...moo

I will bet a bag full of monopoly money that the shooter did a couple of practice runs. This was not a plan that was made up on the fly. I'll bet he walked the route from the shooting location to where he had a bike stashed and rode it through the park.

 

[justtrish]

Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to “first, do no harm.”

I don’t think this man looks old enough to even be a doctor yet. At the most he could be in med school, but not have done his residency yet and not be in practice long enough to anguish over the deadly games played by the big insurance companies.

Nobody who wants to be a doctor is going to murder someone in cold blood to “save all the others.”

Masks are still worn by many to protect against disease, and in this case to hide his identity. Ever since Covid, a mask does not equal “doctor.”

He wore a balaclava to hide his face before he wore a surgical mask.

Not a doctor.

IMO

I agree Arkay!

The perp doesn't look old enough to be a doctor, heck he doesn't look old enough to be out of his parents basement yet. Such a bizarre case this is.

 

[10ofRods]

Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to “first, do no harm.”

I don’t think this man looks old enough to even be a doctor yet. At the most he could be in med school, but not have done his residency yet and not be in practice long enough to anguish over the deadly games played by the big insurance companies.

Nobody who wants to be a doctor is going to murder someone in cold blood to “save all the others.”

Masks are still worn by many to protect against disease, and in this case to hide his identity. Ever since Covid, a mask does not equal “doctor.”

He wore a balaclava to hide his face before he wore a surgical mask.

Not a doctor.

IMO

Generally agree with you, although I ve been involved with murderous or attempted murderous doctors, so that part doesn't work (and yes, they took their version of the Oath - there's a history of doctors not obeying it and doctors becoming criminals). Dr Death comes to mind but also:

Serial homicide by doctors: Shipman in perspective - PMC

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I agree he's likely not a doctor - but it did cross my mind after reading doctors' responses and comments to this event.

Doctors do commit homicide, just saying. Jeffrey McDonald comes to mind. There are many others. Including medical students.

They may not succeed in their murders, but they can attempt them.

IMO.

 

[Warwick7]

Timeline of what we know through msm:

Nov. 24​

10:11 p.m. — The suspected shooter arrives in New York City on a Greyhound bus at the Port Authority terminal. The bus originated in Atlanta and made six or seven stops on the way to New York. Police could not immediately determine where he got on the bus.

The man then takes a taxi to the area of the New York Hilton Midtown and is there for about a half hour.

About 11 p.m. — The man takes a taxi to the HI New York City Hostel at 891 Amsterdam Ave., where he stays until the morning of the shooting. He presents an ID that police believe to be fake. Two roommates in a shared room that had bunk beds never saw his face, police said, because he kept his mask on.

When speaking with an employee in the hostel lobby, he briefly pulled down his facemask and smiled — a moment captured on surveillance images that have been widely circulated by police.

Nov. 29​

The man was checked out of the hostel, where guests are automatically checked out if they don’t show at the desk by a certain time. Police don’t believe he stayed someplace else and checked back into the same hostel the next day.

Dec. 4​

About 5:30 a.m. — The suspected shooter leaves the hostel.

5:41 a.m. — He appears on video at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue walking back and forth in the area of the Hilton hotel where United Healthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, is holding its annual investor conference.

Police deduce that he rode a bicycle to the Hilton because it took him such a short time to get there. “Could he have stolen the bike? These are things we’re still looking into,” Kenny said.

At some point, he went to a nearby Starbucks and purchased a bottle of water and at least one energy bar before returning to the hotel.(Trying to get warm?)

6:44 a.m. — He shoots Thompson as the executive arrives alone, on foot, having walked from a hotel across the street. The man flees.

After the shooting, the shooter fled on foot into an alley, where a phone believed to be linked to the suspect was later recovered, police sources said.

6:48 a.m. — The man enters Central Park by bicycle at the 60th Street and Center Drive entrance. It's in the park and away from security cameras that police believe he discards a gray backpack.

6:56 a.m. — He leaves the park at West 77th Street and Central Park West, still on the bicycle.

6:58 a.m. — He passes another camera on 85th Street and Columbus Avenue, still on the bicycle.

7 a.m. — He's at 86th Street, no longer with the bicycle.

7:04 a.m. — He enters a taxi northbound at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

7:30 a.m. — He's near the George Washington Bridge and the bus terminal there. It offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.

* After the attack, investigators find the words “deny," “defend” and "depose,” written in permanent marker on ammunition at the scene. The words mimic a phrase used by insurance industry critics.

Dec. 6​

Kenny and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reveal that investigators believe the gunman left New York City on a bus. Investigators say he entered the George Washington Bridge Bus Station but have not found a video of him leaving or getting on a bus.

“It could possibly be a disgruntled employee or a disgruntled client," Kenny says of a possible motive in a briefing.

Police find what they say is the man's backpack. Its contents are not disclosed.

Dec. 7​

Police continue to search Central Park; scuba divers are seen scouring a pond. The NYPD releases additional photos showing the suspected shooter next to and in the back seat of a taxi. In both images, he is seen wearing a blue, medical-style face mask.

Despite recovering a fingerprint from the Starbucks purchase and sending items for DNA testing, police have yet to publicly identify the suspect.

 

[branmuffin]

Imagine a dorm room. It's like that. Here's a picture from the HI Hostel where he stayed, so you get the idea..

View attachment 550212

No thanks.

 

[10ofRods]

I agree Arkay!

The perp doesn't look old enough to be a doctor, heck he doesn't look old enough to be out of his parents basement yet.

So how old does he look? 17-18? I have asked this before and not gotten many answers. I think he looks 22-23, maybe 24-26.

I also think he's modifying his look a bit with cosmetics - but we shall see. He could be a young-looking 30 year old, frankly.

IMO.