The search for the suspected killer in the brutal murder of Manhattan CEO Brian Thompson has entered a third day as police have revealed clues to the killer’s identity, but many facts about the shocking shooting still remain unknown .
Thompson was fatally shot outside a Hilton hotel in downtown Manhattan around 6:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday, just before he was scheduled to speak at the company’s annual investor conference.
The killer, a black-clad person wearing a backpack who was “skilled” with firearms, waited outside the hotel for Thompson, shot him with a gun apparently fitted with a silencer, and fled through a nearby alley to an e-mail store. bike and then to Central Park.
Related: The murder of Brian Thompson sparks outrage over the state of American healthcare
“From watching the video, it appears he is skilled in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions fairly quickly,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
A manhunt immediately ensued and continues today, with police tapping the city’s vast network of public and private cameras and releasing information throughout the week.
On Thursday, police released images believed to be of the suspect at a hostel on the city’s Upper West Side, where he appeared to flirt with the clerk, revealing his face. According to CNN, he used a fake New Jersey driver’s license to check in.
Additionally, police said they believe the suspect came to New York on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta, Georgia — although it is unclear where exactly the suspect boarded the bus. At the scene, police found a cell phone, a water bottle and a package of protein bars that they believe the killer threw away.
Although the motive for the murder is still unknown, Johnson’s death has struck a chord with many Americans because of their often terrible and exploitative dealings with America’s for-profit healthcare industry. Suspicion about the motive for the killing was heightened by the words scrawled on the bullets with a magic marker: “deny,” “impeach” and “defend.”
On social media, Thompson’s death was met with an outburst of anger about the private health insurance industry he represented, alarming political violence investigators and putting business leaders on edge.
“Now the norms of violence are spreading to the commercial sector,” said Robert Pape, director of the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats. “That’s what I saw when I saw this.”
Many compared Johnson’s assassination to health insurers’ denials of care — with graphs of denial rates going viral and corporate security companies seeing a marked increase in violence over the past five years. This increase, if accurate, would reflect an increase in violent political threats that researchers say began during the first Trump administration.
“There is a lot of pent-up resentment at this company and others that are middlemen between a patient and his or her doctor or hospital,” said Wendell Potter, a former Cigna vice president who has become an industry critic. told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
As Americans shared stories of stinging treatment from private insurers, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Connecticut, New York and Missouri announced they would no longer pay for anesthesia if surgery exceeds a certain time limit.
Online, the decision was linked to general anger about the insurance industry, sparked by Thompson’s death. Amid that backlash and alarm from doctors, the insurer reversed the decision Thursday, citing “significant widespread misinformation” about the policy change.
The murder has also put business leaders on edge. It is common for business leaders to be threatened because they are essentially the human face of a company. Thompson’s wife, Paulette, told NBC News that he had received threats in the past.
Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division, a highly paid executive who earned $10 million in annual compensation. UnitedHealth is one of the largest companies in the world, with a market capitalization of $533 billion, bigger than household names like Mastercard and ExxonMobil.
UnitedHealthcare has been criticized for denying care to vulnerable, chronically ill, and elderly patients; the use of artificial intelligence to systematically and falsely deny claims; is the subject of federal monopoly and insider trading investigations; and was the subject of discussion in Congress about serious disruptions caused by a cyberattack this year.
Thompson, a 50-year-old certified accountant who reportedly kept a low public profile, is survived by two sons and his wife, all of whom live in Maple Grove, Minnesota, where the company is headquartered.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
