NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown.

[HmmMysterious]

Looks to me like the “deny, defend, depose” may be similar to “delay, deny, defend”, which some argue are tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying claims:

Delay, Deny, Defend By Jay Feinman

I am speculating the suspect has a grievance with UHC.

Good find. Wow this convinces me more that this is over the UHC's insurance issues. As if the killer is throwing that slogan back at it.

 

[Big Ears]

Did nobody else notice the parked, idling black SUV next to where the shooter stood when firing? The shooter walked/exited in front of the black vehicle after the shooting, then ran to the alley. The parked car driver pressed their brake lights just as the shooter walked in front of it. Very strange. Another witness for investigators to question.

 

[Maumau1616]

He may well have thought, "I'm an insurance executive, not a famous actor or politician. Nobody outside my industry would recognize me."

However, given his ex-wife (or perhaps still married but separated) said that he had received threats, I would be surprised he'd not keep the protective team closer given he was in a highly public space. It's not hard to find people on LinkedIn these days for a photo either. MOO.

 

[blackpeter]

Did nobody else notice the parked, idling black SUV next to where the shooter stood when firing? The shooter walked/exited in front of the black vehicle after the shooting, then ran to the alley. The parked car driver pressed their brake lights just as the shooter walked in front of it. Very strange. Another witness for investigators to question.

Very typical for black SUVs to be idling in front of NYC hotels. But I agree they might have been a useful witness.

 

[lovesit]

The gun is "jamming" in my opinion because of the silencer, which reduces the blowback to cycle the gun. Notice in the video, the shooter has to manually cycle the gun after each shot and is not surprised to have to do so. After the second or third short, the round does not eject smoothly and recycle requires a second cycle, but the shooter is not flustered. This person knows what they are doing. They are also not concerned about leaving shell casings behind. So this shooter has reason to believe this gun and ammo will not be traced back to them (or doesn't care). This shooter knew what they were doing.

I also think it’s interesting that people are saying he “ran” away, honestly he casually drops between the cars quite slowly, then it’s more of a jog till he’s out of camera. I just mean he didn’t make a hysterical mad dash. Feels very calm.

 

[MesquiteO21]

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot dead in Midtown Manhattan, masked gunman at large

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot near a Midtown Manhattan hotel in a potentially targeted shooting early Wednesday, according to police.

abcnews.go.com

The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were discovered by detectives on the shell casings found at the scene where Brian Thompson, the CEO of major insurance group UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down, police sources told ABC News late Wednesday evening.Who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson? What we know about the suspect on the run

NYPD detectives are working to determine whether the words were meant as a message from the shooter and a hint at his motive.

To be honest, these could be red herrings to distract from the actual motive. Deny=coverage denied. Defend=why I should be covered depose=remove CEO from his position

Yet maybe the motive was actually personal and had nothing at all to do with health insurance. but the words make it seem like it does.

Or it could be related to UHC and insurance, but just a thought…
JMO

 

[Inthedetails]

That’s been a leading theory of mine; some sort of anticapitalist.

This ain’t some hired hit, it’s some sort of ideological thing.

I think it might be ideological, but along the lines of undermining trust in each other and exploiting division in our nation.

Wow, I now hope it's a random, disgruntled person instead of that!

What started out as a tragic but intriguing mystery is turning into something sinister, I worry. I'm not liking this at all.

Tread carefully with assumptions. That's all I have to say.

jmo

 

[acutename]

And they sell it at B&H right in NYC

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1515236-REG/peak_design_bedb_20_as_2_everyday_backpack_20l_v2.html

In the Starbucks pics, you see dark strap buckles high on his shoulders- buckles on this backpack are lower

 

[MassGuy]

UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting: Police search for suspect in Brian Thompson's death

Live updates and developments on the manhunt for the suspect in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was killed outside a New York City hotel.

www.nbcnews.com

The NYPD continued to track down several good leads in Thompson's killing late tonight, three senior law enforcement sources told NBC News.

No arrests have been made.

That’s language I’ve seen before when an arrest is imminent.

 

[azure]

Looks to me like the “deny, defend, depose” may be similar to “delay, deny, defend”, which some argue are tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying claims:

Delay, Deny, Defend By Jay Feinman

I am speculating the suspect has a grievance with UHC.

Deny an insurance claim, defend the sick person, depose the CEO? I'm very skeptical about other suggested red herrings like the prosthetic nose. But if you had personal motivations to kill someone prominent, making it look like you're against the institution he represents would be a good way to deflect. IMO. But then you have what seems to be a pretty sloppy crime with evidence everywhere. I'm still on the fence as to motive, but I think we will have an answer shortly.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

I think this information would be more specific than anything that could be gleaned from something like that. Thompson was arriving well before he needed to, and this guy arrived just minutes before that time.

He could have gotten lucky, or he somehow knew his specific movements. I think if anything, he was operating off of real time intelligence (someone told him he was on his way).

I agree. I am very skeptical of coincidences around a crime.

 

[Boodles]

Good question. Although I would disagree that the event had been 'publicized'. The people invited to these investor days are typically working for the large, prestigious brokerage firms. And they would hear about it through their job.

Regarding the 'walking solo to the event', I would love to know more.
We don't know where BT was staying the previous evening. Was it at the Hilton? Did he go out for walk? Was he staying somewhere more prestigious and got dropped off nearby by a 'driver' that morning to attend the meeting? How did the shooter know he would be approaching that side door?

This implies possible inside info (colleagues, family). Or did the shooter check out the investor meeting the previous quarter and laid his plans from there?

He was staying just down the street, a few hundred yards away, at a hotel nicer than the N.Y. Hilton (Lux). He was walking to the Hilton to meet with his team prior to the start of the 8am conference, at which he was to speak. His path to the Hilton was to cross 54th street and walk a short distance to the 6th Ave entrance of the Hilton. The 54th St entrance to the Hilton was locked until 8am. Either way, he had to leave Lux, cross street and walk down 54th where the shooter was hiding behind a car.

 

[azure]

To be honest, these could be red herrings to distract from the actual motive. Deny=coverage denied. Defend=why I should be covered depose=remove CEO from his position

Yet maybe the motive was actually personal and had nothing at all to do with health insurance. but the words make it seem like it does.

Or it could be related to UHC and insurance, but just a thought…
JMO

We must've been typing at the same time, having the same thought!

 

[Snoopster]

That’s been a leading theory of mine; some sort of anticapitalist.

This ain’t some hired hit, it’s some sort of ideological thing.

But why THIS guy?
He is far from a household name. Admittedly he is a symbol of the extreme capitalist state of health care in America. So it's possible.

But I lean towards one of these:
1) someone who believes they have been hurt by this company, or,
2) wants us to believe that the killer is an anti-capitalist (i.e. misdirection, possibly someone known to the victim)

 

[Boodles]

I checked and do not see where this has been posted. I apologize if it has.

Mystery woman fled after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shooting

It has all the hallmarks of a dramatic new spy movie. At 6.44am on Wednesday, a masked assassin shot dead a multi-millionaire executive on one of New York's busiest shopping streets.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I’d flee, too, seeing someone shoot a person within feet of me. I hope they id’d the person and are speaking with them.

 

[lovesit]

Tried to enhance and sharpen the picture. If I knew this guy, I think I would recognize him. Long straight nose, wide cheekbones, maybe the somewhat deepset eyes.

That nose looks fake

 

[citizen_sleuth]

https://wapo.st/4fVc8xd

<snipped & BBM>
Surveillance camera footage obtained by The Post appears to show the suspect exiting the 57th Street F Train station timestamped at 6:15 a.m. The individual — wearing clothing, shoes and a backpack that match images released by police — leaves the station and walks briskly down Sixth Avenue toward the Hilton Hotel, where police say they responded to a call of a person being shot at 6:46 a.m.

The Starbucks where police released photos of the suspect is about 100 feet south of the subway exit. Those pictures were the clearest of his partially concealed face to be made public Wednesday. By late afternoon, the NYPD had received tips and was following potential leads.

Detectives traced the gunman’s entrance into the 843-acre park via Central Park South, and they determined that he exited on the west side. It was not clear if he left the bike in the park or if he abandoned it elsewhere.

 

[bmacmillan1]

For all the shooter knew, Thompson could have arrived at the conference when the rest of the delegates arrived, would he still have gunned him down then at the risk of being caught? This cannot just be by chance that the shooter knew the exact movements of Thompson, that he would be alone and an easy target

 

[Charlot123]

if we are playing the odds it’s way more likely this was a personal issue than a revenge killing by or on behalf of a random disgruntled UHC policyholder or investor. I find the hacking thing really interesting but the idea that an international cyber gang did it seems even more remote.

So now I’m coming back to his personal life. In hindsight the wife’s NBC interview was weird. First of all, how was she composed enough to even do it so soon after the murder? Second, if you watched it, didn’t it seem strange that she jumped right to a possible explanation (previous threats based on insurance coverage denial)? Now we find out there may be a divorce situation happening behind the scenes? Very much worth looking into. MOO.

Just because they are divorced, does not mean that she is a woman scorned, or unhappy. They were school sweethearts; maybe the marriage outlived itself, the kids were grownups, and it could have been neither unhappy nor unamicable divorce. Or maybe, the divorce was the way to preserve the money for the kids. We don't know.

I'd expect a lot of emotions if she were scared for her life, or the lives of the kids. But perhaps, she can intuitively guess that whoever killed her husband, or fresh ex-husband, bears no grudge against her or the kids. Likely the threats were clustering around something related solely to him.

I can imagine that if there was a recent cluster of calls or threats in other forms, and now he is killed, it is hard not to connect the two.

I feel that the wife is not involved. But free BT could be a magnet for many women. Some of them could be married, or have loving boyfriends.

 

[lydiafaithfull]

Deny an insurance claim, defend the sick person, depose the CEO? I'm very skeptical about other suggested red herrings like the prosthetic nose. But if you had personal motivations to kill someone prominent, making it look like you're against the institution he represents would be a good way to deflect. IMO. But then you have what seems to be a pretty sloppy crime with evidence everywhere. I'm still on the fence as to motive, but I think we will have an answer shortly.

My question is who stands to benefit from his death? Is there already a successor in place?