Killing of Brian Thompson

Killing of Brian Thompson
CCTV still of the moment the first shot is fired
Location of the killing
Location	Outside the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City, U.S.
Coordinates	40°45′46.2″N 73°58′47.1″W
Date	December 4, 2024 (2024-12-04) 6:45 am (EST)
Target	Brian Thompson
Attack type	Shooting
Weapon	Suppressed 9x19mm pistol (believed to be B&T Station SIX-9 by the police)
Assailant	Unidentified
Motive	Justice; possible retaliation against Thompson, UnitedHealthcare, and the American health insurance industry.

Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. He was in the city to attend an annual investors meeting for UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. Authorities believe the attack was not random and are investigating it as an assassination. The shooting occurred early in the morning, and the suspect, described as a white man, fled the scene. As of December 8, the assailant has not been apprehended. Thompson had been CEO since April 2021. His family reported that he had received threats in the past.

Thompson's death received reactions of contempt and mockery towards him, UnitedHealth Group, and the American healthcare system more broadly, particularly in contrast with the universal health care systems used in other developed countries. The assailant has been widely praised and the killing has been characterized as deserved and justified; these attitudes relate to anger over UnitedHealth's business practices and those of the United States health insurance industry at large – primarily their strategies to deny coverage to clients. In particular, Thompson's death was compared to the harm or death experienced by clients' denied healthcare.

Within days, the brazenness of the assailant's actions along with the celebration of his perceived motives led to descriptions of the assassin by some as a folk hero. The killing drew condemnation and elicited sympathy from a number of public officials, commentators, and corporate executives.

Background

American healthcare system

Senator Sanders advocating in support of the Medicare for All Act in 2017

Main article: Healthcare in the United States

Under the American healthcare system, there is no universal government-run health care option. Instead, in order to receive treatment, Americans must purchase or have health insurance provided to them through their employer, though not all employers provide health insurance. Patients who require treatment submit a claim to their health insurance company for approval or reimbursement, with those denied either being refused treatment or ending up in medical debt anywhere from thousands of dollars for the most basic treatments, to millions of dollars for more complicated treatments. Claims are often denied automatically, sometimes by AI systems, or for the most minuscule of stated reasons, even when the treatment is supposedly covered by the policy and is critical for the patient’s survival. Patients whose claims are approved are still often required to pay thousands of dollars or more for their approved treatment. Efforts have been made to reform this system, such as through the introduction of the Medicare for All Act. However, these efforts have largely failed in part due to political lobbying and campaign contributions by health insurance corporations. Medical debt is one of the leadings causes of homelessness in the United States.

Thompson and UnitedHealthcare

Thompson was the chief executive officer (CEO) of UnitedHealthcare, the insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group, from April 2021 until his death. His widow, Paulette, told NBC News that threats had been made on his life related to lack of coverage.

After Thompson's death, it was reported that he was facing a lawsuit accusing him and other executives of insider trading, after they reportedly sold millions of dollars of stock while the company was the subject of a federal investigation that was not disclosed to shareholders. UnitedHealth was under Department of Justice investigation since October 2023, and insiders including Thompson were able to sell US$120 million of personally held UnitedHealth shares before the stock value dropped.

Claim denial rates by insurance companies, as of December 5, 2024

UnitedHealthcare insures 49 million Americans and had $281 billion in revenue for the 2023 fiscal year. In 2021, Thompson was criticized in an open letter from the American Hospital Association due to a UnitedHealthcare plan to start denying payment for what it deemed as non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. UnitedHealthcare has been widely criticized for its handling of claims. It and other insurers were named in an October 2024 report from the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations showing a surge in prior authorization denials for Medicare Advantage patients. Additionally under Thompson's leadership, UnitedHealthcare began using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate claim denials, resulting in patients being unable to access needed medical care. A class action suit filed against UnitedHealth Group in November 2023 alleged the company knowingly employed an AI model that had a 90% error rate. In September 2024, a demonstration was held outside of UnitedHealth Group subsidiary and pharmacy services provider Optum's headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, with protestors claiming Optum's business practices inflate medicine costs and force independent pharmacies out of business.

Killing

CCTV video of the killing

Thompson was in New York City for an annual UnitedHealth Group investors meeting, having arrived in the city on December 2. On December 4, 2024, at around 6:45 a.m. EST, Thompson was walking along West 54th Street toward the New York Hilton Midtown hotel that was hosting the meeting. A man dressed in a light-brown or cream-colored hoodie waited outside the hotel for several minutes. Standing approximately 20 feet (6 m) away from Thompson when he arrived at the entrance, the man fired at him from a suppressed 9 mm pistol at least twice, striking him in the back and right calf.

A closed-circuit television camera recorded the killing. The shooter is seen manually cycling the action after each shot, causing observers to initially believe that the weapon was a malfunctioning semi-automatic pistol. However, internet users, along with the police, then theorized that the pistol could have been Brügger & Thomet VP9, or its variant Brügger & Thomet Station SIX-9, which are bolt-action pistols, i.e. manually-operated repeating firearms by design. This type of pistol is especially quiet even for a silenced firearm due to a lack of a semi-automatic firing mechanism (involving metal parts impacting against each other), and originates as a clandestine operations weapon used specifically for assassination.

The killer fled the scene on a bicycle. Thompson was taken to Mount Sinai West hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m.

Timeline

Time (EST)	Event	Ref.
10:11 p.m., Nov 24	Suspect arrives in New York City on a Greyhound bus which originated in Atlanta and made up to seven stops en route.
Nov 24	Suspect checks into the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
	Suspect cases out the New York Hilton Midtown hotel.
Nov 29	Suspect checks out of the HI New York City Hostel.
Nov 30	Suspect checks back into the HI New York City Hostel.
5:30 a.m., Dec 4	Suspect leaves the hostel, thought to be by bike.
6:15 a.m., Dec 4	Suspect seen leaving the 57th Street F Train subway stop.
6:17 a.m., Dec 4	Suspect buys coffee, water, and granola bars at a Starbucks café two blocks away from the New York Hilton Midtown hotel, discarding the coffee cup and water bottle.
6:30 a.m., Dec 4	Surveillance footage captures the suspect walking while talking on the phone.
approx. 6:39 a.m., Dec 4	Suspect arrives in front of the New York Hilton Midtown hotel and waits for several minutes.
approx. 6:40 a.m., Dec 4	Thompson leaves the Marriott hotel he stayed at the prior night, heading toward the New York Hilton Midtown hotel.
6:44 a.m., Dec. 4	Thompson walks along the sidewalk toward the New York Hilton Midtown hotel and the assailant shoots him multiple times, racking his pistol after it appeared to jam; the suspect immediately flees northbound via a pedestrian walkway.
6:46 a.m., Dec 4	Police respond to a 911 call reporting that a person has been shot.
6:48 a.m., Dec 4	Officers arrive on scene and find Thompson with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and leg; he is taken to the hospital. Assailant is seen riding an e-bike north into Central Park.
6:59 a.m., Dec 4	A person appearing to be the suspect is seen riding a bike on West 85th St.
7:04 a.m., Dec 4	Suspect gets into a northbound taxi on 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
7:12 a.m., Dec 4	Thompson is declared dead at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
7:30 a.m., Dec 4	Suspect arrives at George Washington Bridge Bus Station.
8:00 a.m., Dec 4	UnitedHealth Group investor meeting begins.
9:00 a.m., Dec 4	UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty cancels the rest of the investor meeting.

Assailant

The suspect was described by police as a white man, approximately 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall, wearing a light-brown or cream-colored hooded jacket, dark pants, and black sneakers with white soles. He had a gray backpack and concealed his face with a black face mask. Police said he appeared to be proficient in the use of firearms. The suspect was described as being "extremely camera savvy," and as of December 8 has not been apprehended.

The suspect arrived in New York City on November 24 on a Greyhound bus. The bus route began in Atlanta, but authorities do not know from which city or town the suspect boarded. The suspect checked into the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan – formerly the Association Residence Nursing Home – on November 24 with a fake New Jersey identification card and paid in cash. The suspect stayed all but one night of the 10 days he was in New York City at the hostel, checking out on December 3. According to two sources interviewed by The New York Times as first reported on December 5, 2024, investigators have not been able to identify the suspect. Police said on December 6 that the suspect left the city via the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.

Investigation

The NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams said the killing appeared to be targeted and was not a random attack. On December 4, the NYPD offered up to $10,000 for information on the shooter. On December 5, authorities released images of a suspect taken from surveillance cameras at the hostel and a Starbucks café. Two stills show the suspect's face including one with him smiling widely at a female desk attendant at the hostel, reportedly taking his mask off after flirting with the attendant. In addition to the $10,000 reward offered by the NYPD, the FBI joined the investigation and has offered up to $50,000 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction.

Cartridge cases and cartridges

Three fired cartridge cases alongside three unfired cartridges were found at the scene. The words "delay", "deny", and "depose" were written on the cases. "Depose" was inscribed on a casing from a round fired into Thompson, while "delay" was marked on an unfired cartridge ejected as the shooter racked the pistol, possibly to clear a jam or intentionally discard the live round. Police are investigating whether the words suggest a motive, "delay, deny, defend," a well-known insurance industry phrase about not paying out claims. Delay, Deny, Defend is a 2010 book by Jay M. Feinman, a retired Rutgers Law School professor, in which he critiques the American insurance system.

Other collected evidence

Apart from the ammunition casings, a water bottle, candy wrapper, and a phone believed to be connected to the shooter were also recovered from the scene. On December 6, police said they found the shooter's backpack in Central Park. It contained a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money.

Response

Family

Thompson's widow, Paulette, released a statement after the killing saying that she and her family are "shattered by the senseless killing" and called her husband an "incredibly loving, generous, talented man" and "incredibly loving father to our two sons". Shortly following the death, two of the houses owned by Thompson's family were swatted.

Politicians

In response to the killing, public officials including Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Senator Amy Klobuchar expressed dismay and offered condolences to the family. Walz said that he knew Thompson. Outgoing House representative Dean Phillips wrote that he was "horrified by the assassination of my constituent, Brian Thompson, this morning in NYC and have his family in my prayers." In an interview on ABC's "This Week" on December 8, 2024, House representative Ro Khanna said, regarding Thompson's killing, that "There is no justification for violence", while also voicing his support for the Medicare for All Act and arguing that "After years, Sanders is winning this debate". Khanna also praised a statement that Senator Bernie Sanders posted a day after the killing, which read: "We waste hundreds of billions a year on health care administrative expenses that make insurance CEOs and wealthy stockholders incredibly rich while 85 million Americans go uninsured or underinsured. Healthcare is a human right. We need Medicare for All".

Healthcare corporations

UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and CVS Health, which operates Aetna, all removed photographs and other information about their executive leadership from their websites following Thompson's killing. Additionally, the days following Thompson's death saw a surge in inquiries about protective services and security for CEOs and corporate executives, according to private security firm Allied Universal. Michael Sherman, the former chief medical officer at Point32Health, justified the concerns of health insurance executives, saying, "It doesn't seem paranoid to worry that someone who's had services denied that they may believe are important might be in an emotionally unstable state." Referring to the online response to Thompson's death, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who runs the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, affiliated with Yale, said, "we've seen the frightening, uncanny conversion of angry and deranged people." One health insurance executive was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that threats against health insurance companies are common, and that "We'd have times when you'd deny proton laser therapy for a kid with seizures and the parent would freak out". Another executive was quoted as saying, "What's most disturbing is the ability of people to hide behind their keyboards and lose their humanity."

After the killing, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association reversed a controversial decision to place time limits on coverage for surgical anesthesia in Connecticut, New York, and Missouri.

Public response

The vast majority of people expressed their contempt for Thompson, UnitedHealthcare, and the nation's health insurance system while praising the unknown assailant for his actions. Users shared personal stories of harm and death suffered as a result of claim denials, and joked about the killing with memes and gallows humor. Anthony Zenkus, a lecturer at Columbia University, said on social media: "Today, we mourn the death of ... Brian Thompson, gunned down ... wait I'm sorry – today we mourn the deaths of 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires". One physician told The Daily Beast that they believed the perpetrator should be brought to justice, but also stated that Thompson's role as CEO had led to a great amount of suffering and loss of life, which he described as "on the order of millions", adding that "[it is] hard for me to sympathize when so many people have suffered because of his company".

A popular comment on the r/nursing subreddit mocked Thompson's death by emulating a denial of coverage letter for Thompson's emergency care. The Network Contagion Research Institute found that out of the top ten most engaged-with posts on X, six of them were posts implicitly or explicitly supporting the killing or criticizing Thompson. Some highlighted comments called for further assassinations of CEOs and class war; a researcher at the institute said that the assassination was framed as "some opening blow in a class war" and that praise for the killing came from across the political spectrum. After Thompson's death, UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth Group, published a statement on Facebook detailing the death and their official condolences. Though the post's comment section was deactivated, approximately 90,000 Facebook users responded to the post with a "Haha" (or "laughing") reaction with only 2,200 "Sad" reactions as of December 6.

Journalist Taylor Lorenz reposted the photo of another health insurance company CEO with a blank section for date of death, accompanied by a caption pondering about whether to send "you're next" to other CEOs who are in the same industry. Lorenz later said that she was "explaining the public sentiment" and not personally in favor of violence. Robert Pape, an expert in political violence at the University of Chicago, told The Guardian that the response of online commentators was indicative of Americans' growing acceptance of violence to settle civil disputes.

See also

• Health insurance costs in the United States
• Health insurance coverage in the United States

External links

• Suspect in shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO fled New York City by bus, police say at Wikinews