NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown.

[clearskies1]

Very easy to obtain this information. All corporations are required to hold annual meetings, and shareholders have to be informed.

This was not an an annual shareholders meeting that shareholders must be given specifics about so they can attend if they want. This was an annual Investor Conference that was for Analysts and Institutional Investors. That conference is not required and would usually only be for those invited.

 

[Deleted member 306806]

This is what i meant when I said the backpack was unusual.

…

Eagle-eyed social media users have pointed out that the gunman was wearing a luxury backpack that retails for $279 and is well known amongst photographers.

UnitedHealthcare CEO suspect luxury backpack sparks wild theories

Eagle-eyed social media users have pointed out that the gunman was wearing a luxury backpack that retails for $279 and is well known amongst photographers.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I would not call that backpack luxury. While the price is not cheap, it is not out of reach for adults with good jobs, or even college students who have a specific need for a backpack - photography, traveling, camping, hiking, daytrips, and do on. The price is in-line with other backpacks, messenger bags, luggage, and general gear.

ETA - it could have also been a gift. I know a decent amount of older adults who gift lasting items to college-age relatives.

 

[MassGuy]

They will get the DNA results and fingerprints off the empty Starbucks coffee cup and empty water bottle. How long does this take?

It can take mere hours to get DNA results with rapid testing. If he’s not in CODIS though, it would only help them confirm his involvement after arrest though (in the short term).

Fingerprints would provide a better immediate opportunity probably, as more people will have their fingerprints on file than DNA.

 

[fashionella]

Made a Google map of key times, locations and details - Brian Thompson Murder - Google My Maps

the murder location is WRONG on this map. He was shot on the side of the Hilton, on 54st not on 6th avenue. He was shot across from the Zigfeld. I know this area very very very well.

 

[alsleuther]

I've never stayed in a hostel, but a quick google search says most of them require photo ID to stay there. And for safety reasons I'm sure most of them have video cameras at the check in desk right?

 

[MassGuy]

Take a look at the video where the gunman is on his cell phone talking to someone some minutes before the shooting. There is a guy who is striding along with the gunman and I wonder if that guy striding alongside the gunman is an accomplice. Note how that guy purposefully walks at a fast clip paralleling the shooter, but staying a consistent 7 or 8 feet behind (perhaps so as to appear that they are not together.) That's extremely unusual and very uncommon walking behavior. Add to that the fact that the gunman is talking to someone on a cell phone also lends credence to the thought that this is the act of more than one person.

If he did have help, which I think is less probable than him working alone, then he needed that help from the person on the phone. Assistance would have been provided in regards to tracking BT's movements, as opposed to someone walking with him, which would have done nothing.

I do think he was working alone though, as surveillance footage would have probably outed anyone who was surveilling BT.

 

[Inthedetails]

Huge errors on his part:

While a suspect has not yet been identified, police believe they will recover good forensic evidence from a water bottle and two power bar wrappers that were discarded at the same Starbucks where police also obtained the surveillance video of the suspect. They say the unspent bullet rounds and the cell phone, which they now have a search warrant to examine, will help in their investigation as well.

I might be reading way too much into this, but the casual actions of dropping items makes me skittish.

Is he so clumsy to accidentally forget items, even though we see him incredibly composed with the jammed gun and calm demeanor during the shooting? Is he cavalier, thinking he won't be caught no matter what he drops? Is it disregard in general, just leaving trash because he thinks the world around him is trash anyway? Or does he consider cleaning trash not his job - he's there to kill, not to care about water bottles and snack packaging.

Calm, cool, early-riser, fancy backpack guy...but drops wrappers?

Could be nothing but a dumb criminal, I know.

jmo

 

[ElizaKate]

the murder location is WRONG on this map. He was shot on the side of the Hilton, on 54st not on 6th avenue. He was shot across from the Zigfeld. I know this area very very very well.

I know. And that's what I've plotted.. [ETA: edited the description to make it clearer.)

 

[Charlot123]

Or to make it look like it was.

But, it looks like the assassin read the book. That was essentially his manifesto. And wasn't it published in 2010? 2010 was not even close to the current Healthcare situation. So, either the killer, or his family read it in 2010? It was reprinted in 2013, a while ago. Jay Feinman was educated in Chicago and works at Rutgers Law School, NJ. So this might delineate the area. I never read his books, to my shame. The list is impressive. But seems that either the killer, or his family, did. Does it tell, college-educated, to you?

 

[sunflowermomma]

I feel like the backpack was a decoy because it's so visible, once the backpack is gone hes just another guy in dark clothing on the street.

 

[Sunshynn]

At a certain point, I even thought, could it be a woman? But probably the Starbucks stuff knows.

When I watched the video for the first time, I also thought that at certain points it looked like a woman in stature and in some of their movements.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

New video of the gunman riding a bike on the Upper West Side after the killing has been released (video in article below)

UnitedHealthcare CEO shot: Brian Thompson killed in Midtown, NYC as NYPD close in on ID of shooter | abc7ny.com

CEO%20of%20UnitedHealthCare%20Brian%20Thompson%20was%20fatally%20shot%20in%20Manhattan%2C%20NYC%20outside%20the%20Midtown%20Hilton%20Hotel%2C%20NYPD%20says.

abc7ny.com

<snipped>
Three spent shell casings were found at the scene along with three live rounds from a 9mm, and NYPD detectives are working to determine whether the words on the casings were meant as a message from the shooter and a hint at his motive. They believe the shooting could be the result of a grudge against the insurance company.

[…]

A new video released on Thursday shows the alleged suspect biking out of Central Park, on West 85th Street, after the shooting.

[…]

A canvas of surveillance cameras on the perimeter of Central Park also revealed a person resembling the suspect entered the park on the Upper West Side, near the Fredrick Douglass houses, hours before the shooting and exited the park on the west side sometime after the shooting.

So there’s a picture in this article of the suspect seemingly talking on his cellphone.
Could that be of help to the police even though it’s in the middle of NYC?
After the Boston Marathon bombing, didn’t LE sift through thousands of phones being used in that area and didn’t that help them identify the bombers?

 

[Tnstevenson]

Take a look at the video where the gunman is on his cell phone talking to someone some minutes before the shooting. There is a guy who is striding along with the gunman and I wonder if that guy striding alongside the gunman is an accomplice. Note how that guy purposefully walks at a fast clip paralleling the shooter, but staying a consistent 7 or 8 feet behind (perhaps so as to appear that they are not together.) That's extremely unusual and very uncommon walking behavior. Add to that the fact that the gunman is talking to someone on a cell phone also lends credence to the thought that this is the act of more than one person.

Agree with the 2nd person idea. I can't get past the fact the suspect stops at Starbucks if he/she needed to be in a specific spot before BT got there. Is there hotel footage of BT from the time he leaves his room? Is there someone waiting the hotel lobby talking on a phone? Was BT on the phone when leaving the hotel?

 

[MassGuy]

I might be reading way too much into this, but the casual actions of dropping items makes me skittish.

Is he so clumsy to accidentally forget items, even though we see him incredibly composed with the jammed gun and calm demeanor during the shooting? Is he cavalier, thinking he won't be caught no matter what he drops? Is it disregard in general, just leaving trash because he thinks the world around him is trash anyway? Or does he consider cleaning trash not his job - he's there to kill, not to care about water bottles and snack packaging.

Calm, cool, early-riser, fancy backpack guy...but drops wrappers?

Could be nothing but a dumb criminal, I know.

jmo

He may have simply underestimated law enforcement's ability to piece all these surveillance videos together, never imagining they'd find that video of him in Starbucks (thus giving them the ability to recover those items).

 

[Inthedetails]

He may have simply underestimated law enforcement's ability to piece all these surveillance videos together, never imagining they'd find that video of him in Starbucks (thus giving them the ability to recover those items).

Then he is a dumb criminal if he thinks there aren't cameras in places like Starbucks, especially over cash registers.

jmo

 

[StarryStarryNight]

When I watched the video for the first time, I also thought that at certain points it looked like a woman in stature and in some of their movements.

That it could be a woman is still on the table for me.
The description that the suspect is about 6’1”, is the only thing that doesn’t really go with that scenario. Though there are tall women.

 

[fashionella]

my instinct says he checked out of the hostel, did the killing, then took a train to JFK and was out of the country before noon yesterday. Not sure of the motive but I would venture personal rather than anything to do with business dealings.

 

[MassGuy]

Then he is a dumb criminal if he thinks there aren't cameras in places like Starbucks, especially over cash registers.

jmo

He would have known that, just not realized law enforcement would recover it.

 

[Inthedetails]

Agree with the 2nd person idea. I can't get past the fact the suspect stops at Starbucks if he/she needed to be in a specific spot before BT got there. Is there hotel footage of BT from the time he leaves his room? Is there someone waiting the hotel lobby talking on a phone? Was BT on the phone when leaving the hotel?

I keep thinking he went to Starbucks simply because it was cold outside. Not saying that is right, but seems plausible at this point.

jmo

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

Any talk possibly of whether the gunman might have used a ghost gun? And if that might have led to its supposed prone to jam? Or to affect its traceability? IMO those images of the assailant with the weapon are too grainy to discern much.

And now I have shown my naïveté to firearms and the latest in this case. MOO