The CEO of the insurance division of UnitedHealthcare, the world's largest provider of insurance and healthcare services, 50-year-old Brian Thompson, was killed on Wednesday in New York as he was heading to a meeting with investors. The assailant shot Thompson in the chest and leg at a quarter to seven in the morning as he had just left the Hilton Hotel in the heart of Manhattan.
The New York Police Department has offered a reward for any leads leading to the capture of the man who fled without apparent assistance from anyone else. The motives behind the murder are unknown.
NYPD Chief of Police Jessica Tisch stated in a press conference that the attack was "premeditated, planned, and selective", and that the suspect waited for Thompson to approach before shooting him multiple times, injuring him in the back and leg, and fleeing on an electric bicycle.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the suspect waited for five minutes for Thompson and shot him in the back. Initially, the gun's magazine jammed, but he fixed it and continued pulling the trigger, according to the preliminary investigation.
Kenny mentioned that according to security footage, the suspect, a casually dressed white man who appeared to be attending the conference, "appears to be an expert in the use of firearms, as he was able to quickly fix the malfunction (of the gun)."
Police are investigating whether Thompson, who was staying at a hotel near the Hilton and was alone at his company's event, had received threats. His wife, Paulette Thompson, with whom he has two children, told NBC News that "some people had been threatening him."
The latest images of the suspect, shortly after the murder, show him entering Central Park on an electric bicycle from the public system.
Image released by the New York Police Department of the perpetrator at the moment of shooting and fleeing. | AFP PHOTO / NYPD
Three bullets and a mobile phone have been recovered at the crime scene and its surroundings.
"We will not rest until we identify and capture the shooter in this case," stated Tisch, who offered a $10,000 reward to the public and assured that the police presence will be reinforced at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting, near the Hilton Hotel.
Thompson, a native of Minnesota, had been the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private insurer in the U.S., since 2021, and had been with the company's parent company, UnitedHealth Group, for two decades, which also confirmed the news in a statement.
Brian Thompson, in an image provided by the insurer. | EFE
"We are deeply saddened and shocked by the passing of our dear friend and colleague Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare," the company said in the statement.
By revenue, United Healthcare is the eighth largest company in the world and the fourth in the U.S. (after Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Apple), according to Fortune magazine's annual ranking, and the first in the ranking that is not in the technology, retail, or energy sector. The company has annual sales exceeding $325 billion with a market value of $562 billion. The news of Thompson's murder did not impact the stock price, which was up 1% at midday.
The company operates in the complex U.S. healthcare system, a bureaucratic monster controlled by an oligopoly of insurers and companies that manage the system in collaboration with two major national programs controlled by the government, Medicare and Medicaid.
The result of the system is that the U.S. spends more than double its GDP on healthcare compared to Spain but has a life expectancy that is four and a half years shorter and a number of alarming indicators, such as the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. To highlight the system's failure, over 40% of Americans receive some form of government assistance for health or disability reasons.