Summary

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in a targeted attack outside a New York Hilton hotel, with investigators describing the killing as meticulously planned.

The gunman fled on foot, then by rental bike, and possibly left the city via bus. Shell casings at the scene had words like “deny” and “defend” inscribed, hinting at a motive linked to Thompson’s work.

Experts suggest the shooter may have military or weapons experience but left key clues, including surveillance footage and discarded items.

Police are analyzing evidence, including DNA, to identify the suspect.

  • meathorse@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Well, I’ll be damned! The republicans were right!

    All it takes is a good-guy with a gun!

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        If failing to close a murder file impressed the police they’d be in a constant state of amazement. About half of homicides are solved and I’m sure premeditated murder outside of family is much much lower than that. 5 to 10 percent for organized crime/gangs for example.

        • jonne@infosec.pub
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          6 days ago

          Yeah, but this is one they want to solve. They don’t care if a random person gets shot in the Bronx.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Further proof that if you’re smart enough you can usually get away with it, and a reminder that cops are only effective because must criminals are fucking stupid.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      Most murders aren’t premeditated killing of what is basically a stranger.

      If you’re not on the scene when the police arrive, not a family member, not somebody with a known grudge and not a rival gang member, don’t brag about the killing to your friends, and don’t visibly flee the scene in your own car, then they’re reduced to the CSI stuff, which I’ll wager is far less effective than it is on the show.

      And also don’t give your DNA to 23 and Me.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      6 days ago

      Even avoiding airports, he could be on the other end of the country by now.

      Isn’t there’s something where if the police don’t find a suspect in the first few days, they probably won’t? May not apply when the case has this much attention and the police are motivated.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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        6 days ago

        “The first 48 (hours)” is misleading.

        First, it is mostly a function of how much the cops care. If they care about finding someone they will get off their asses. If they don’t, they will just procrastinate and ignore it. This is why you have stories of families frantically trying to get any help at all to find their loved one that was written off as “a junkie” or “a slut”.

        Second, it matters more when you are dependent on grocery store security cameras and the like that might only have 24 hours of capacity anyway. Less so when you are relying on train stations and bus stations that got all that 9-11 money.

        Third? The cops likely already have all they need to identify him. He was allegedly tracked to having got on a bus in Atlanta. They have a few photos of his face. And basically everyone is in the DMV databases. That gives a general tri-state area (possibly an outright car if they check long term parking for the period he was away) and they can narrow that down by employment status (taking a few weeks off to go off grid is not something a Starbucks barista is allowed to do) and even UHC records to see who was denied a claim in the past few years (fortunately THAT doesn’t narrow shit down at all).

        So they can eventually find him. It is inevitable.

        That said: This is the cops. The first white guy who looks vaguely like the shooter and who has no alibi will be heroically killed by the cops when they went to ask him questions and he opened fire while screaming “I am the guy who killed the UHC CEO and I feel really really bad about it and only did it because I am woke and hate my life and please forgive me officer but I will never be taken alive. Also I am pro illegal immigrants and am spraying fentanyl around in case any cops piss hot after this.”. Also he had a dime bag of weed on him for some reason. Sorry, half a dime bag.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      I had to turn off ne2s when they were saying it’s now a multi state manhunt and it’s important to keep this in the public eye.

      I was like good point, let me stop watching.

    • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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      6 days ago

      It would be good for him if they never catch him, but if they do, and he is sentenced to death as would be expected, his last words could greatly magnify the historical impact of his act, as with the anarchist/labor martyrs of the early 20th century.

      That is, unless the media deliberately suppress what he actually said and report his last words as “skibidi toilet” or a declaration of undying love for some Jodie Foster analogue or something, thus proving that the shooter was nuts, as anyone who had a grudge against America’s healthcare providers would have to be.

      • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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        6 days ago

        healthcare providers

        I know this is indirect speech how they’d spin it, not your own words, but I fucking hate the way these vampires are spun as “providers” - they don’t provice jack shit except the rare case of “I provide the wealth to shoulder large financial burdens at once” (but we all know the fine print on that).

        The actual providers, on the other hand, have to watch a mother’s entire world collapse when she’s told her child is gonna die because the treatment isn’t affordable and the insurance that made her come all this way to find an in-network doctor in the first place decided the kid should try Yoga or whatever bullshit.

        • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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          5 days ago

          I’m sure the propaganda ghouls in the US are currently talking with one voice about how Brian Thompson was one of the carers, who gave his life to helping the sick, and how his killer is bound for the lowest circle of Hell alongside Hitler, Oswald and the Rosenbergs.

          • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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            5 days ago

            Bitch, my boss is doing more for my healthcare.

            Spontaneous Home Office because I caught a cold? If you mark it on your time sheet, I might have to reprimand you, so just don’t.

            Doctor’s appointment with awkward scheduling? If it interferes with important meetings, we’ll have to see if we can make it work, otherwise just mark it in your calendar so I know when you’re unavailable, catch up the hours whenever.

            Granted, it’s an office job and I’m doing good work, so he has little reason to object, but that puts him above Thompson already.

        • felbane@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          So you’re saying there’s a difference between healthcare providers (doctors/surgeons/nurses/PAs/etc) and wealthcare providers (insurance companies)?

      • MonkeyBusiness@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        What I’ve seen the media do is that they will under-report the story and highly focus on a meaningless attention-grabbing event to distract from it. Whenever I see lots of news reporting on something meaningless but engaging, I think they’re covering an important story that they don’t want us to see.

        I would really like to see a site that aggregates independent media so that we could see news headlines by media that isn’t handicapped by political connections.

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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          5 days ago

          There’s plenty of sites that’ll give you whatever AI written garbage that’ll conform to your personal political beliefs.

          The real problem is revenue is drying up for media that confirms their sources and reports the facts without having a political slant to it.

          People only viewing media that conforms to their personal biases is what got Trump elected.

      • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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        5 days ago

        sentenced to death

        New York has no death penalty afaik.

        They’ll throw him in prison where he’ll be treated like royalty.

        • ylph@lemmy.world
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          They can easily prosecute this as a federal crime in a federal court. Crossing state lines might be enough to do it, and they can probably add some additional charges like terrorism. Federal murder can be eligible for death penalty.

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    6 days ago

    You know the rich are shitting their pants over this. It’s gotta be like a David and Goliath thing for them. It’d be a great time to start a private security company.

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I’m sure Academie (or whatever they’re calling Blackwater these days) and the Pinkertons are about to see a lot of new business.

    • Steve@communick.news
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      6 days ago

      It’ll fade. Unless…

      It happens every three months or so. With escalating difficulty. All they way to being found dead alone in their office. Then slow down to every 18 to 36 months. That’s when they’d be scared enough to actually change corporate policies.

        • Steve@communick.news
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          6 days ago

          After writing my comment, I thought of mass shooters tweaking their tactic, and going to different kinds of locations. Like certain board rooms.

          • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            It’s going to be harder after Wednesday. I’m certain Sodexo, ABM, Cintas, etc are going to scrutinize all the support staff working at every F500 from now on, since that’s ideally the closest working class staff to any C-level.

            • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              And these C-levels are all gonna get private, armed security baked into their comp packages now - the guys who are actually competent, not John With His Dad’s Revolver.

        • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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          5 days ago

          but something like a bomb in the boardroom,

          …also risks killing innocent people in adjacent parts of the building.

          The janitor and the guys fixing the elevator don’t need to become collateral damage.

          • Krono@lemmy.today
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            5 days ago

            Certainly the assassination of Ferdinand is a proximate cause of WWI, but there were much greater forces in play. The great powers had giant mechanized armies for the first time, they had plans for the deployment of millions on very strict deadlines, and they had the belief that failure to meet those deadlines would mean national destruction.

            I think it is more plausible to argue that propaganda of the deed helped to end the gilded age and usher in the New Deal era, which was America’s golden era.

            I also act under political desperation. Only under the most optimistic assumptions will electoralism be able to save us from climate change; currently the most likely outcome is human extinction. If the propaganda of the deed has only a 5% chance of saving us from our modern gilded age and the resultant climate-induced end of civilization, then I say it is a chance we must take for we are running out of serious options.

    • treadful@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      It’s gotta be like a David and Goliath thing for them.

      This is the bad timeline though. I’m just waiting to hear that this guy was a pro hired by a C-suite rival. Not some hero of the commons.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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      As much as I would totally hate to see the average board room turned into a kindergarten classroom: Not gonna happen. Just expect to see more stories about security guards “roughing people up” and more cops told to bring a spare piece and a dime bag to the site of a self defense shooting when one of the roid fiends unloads on someone for looking at them funny.

    • demizerone@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Elon was building droids to replace workers, but now they are going to have to use them to protect Elon.

      • Zier@fedia.io
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        5 days ago

        Someone will find a way to hack the droid and turn it on the ‘protected’ individual.

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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          Hopefully the hacker waits until the droids develop a good name for themselves and all the CEOs have one. Then flip them all at once iRobot style.

    • Biggles@lemmy.myserv.one
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      5 days ago

      Politicians in particular should be rethinking about how much they really want to be complete shitheads in public. Perhaps turn down the glee when they enact harmful legislation as well.

    • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I mean yes, but also these execs are more than rich enough to just have a 24/7 guard detail on retainer. They’ll be mildly inconvenienced by that tho so bets are they’ll step back and put a pazzi as the face of their companies.

  • Fashim@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    How about these fucking class traitors use their resources to catch the murderers of decent everyday people instead

    • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      There are three kinds of people in this world. Those who benefit from the system, those who are exploited by the system, and those who deluded themselves into thinking the system benefits them.

      • iopq@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        What about the people who delude themselves that they are not beneficiaries of the system?

    • 4lan@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Why don’t you call the tip line and ask them yourselves? Your son could be shot in the face in broad daylight and they were just move on the next day. They would never look for your son’s murderer.

      Why are they protecting the ultra wealthy more than they are protecting the working class??

      Maybe the police are not here to protect us after all?

      • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        Ok like the police suck but they would absolutely look for a murderer in that instance. No reason to exaggerate when they’re bad enough

  • HomebrewHedonist@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    If you look at this jacket in this picture closely and compare it to the one at the scene of the crime, they don’t match. This is the wrong guy.

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Oh no. What if they never find him? What if this poor, sweet, humble, *checks notes* absolute monster of a healthcare CEO never gets justice.

    Narrator: but he already got justice.

  • roofTophopper@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Let’s see here. It’s currently the 7th. I wonder what other things happened in NY that need attention. Everyday is indeed a busy day.

  • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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    Okay, honestly? Hear me out because as an European one thing stood out to me.

    Why didn’t NYPD catch him? Because he fled using… public communication transportation. It’s too out of this world for them to be able to track him down. No protocols. No nothing. Because nobody, ever, uses public communication in USA.

    Edit: And it seems I am the bigger joke for writing public communication when half-asleep. ._.

    • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world
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      Did he use public transit? I thought the first thing I heard is people thought he used a rental bike but it turned out it wasn’t one of those. But yeah even if he did I think basically what he did was ride from the scene of the crime into Central Park which has less CCTV and is a lot harder to track people in so it probably took longer for the police to find his trail from there.

      • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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        Ditch the bike in the park, get changed (remove top layer, put in backpack), hop in to the waiting car on the other side of the park. Toss the backpack in a dumpster on your way out of town.

        You’re outta there before NYPD even knows it happened.

        • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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          CBS is saying that they found the backpack buried in some rocks in Central Park.

          NYPD officers were in Central Park near West Drive on Friday, searching for anything with ties back to the gunman. Eventually, they discovered a backpack they believe belongs to the suspect, a high-ranking NYPD source told CBS News New York.

          Former NYPD detective Felipe Rodriguez says he thinks the suspect pre-planned his hiding spot.

          “It seems to have been buried in rocks and everything else. This was something that just wasn’t done in five minutes, and I am pretty sure that he was able to do this even before he committed the homicide,” Rodriguez said. “We actually have to look at the magnitude, and how big Central Park is. It’s really big, 256 acres at this point.”

          Saturday, police said the backpack contained a jacket, but not the murder weapon. The recovered items were sent to the crime lab for forensic tests, which could confirm if they are the suspect’s.

        • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world
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          I did hear he actually most likely took a bus out of NYC as they had footage of him entering a bus station but not leaving it. It could be hard to figure out which bus he took although if he had to buy a ticket from a person there it might be easier.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      There’s a lot of people getting on and off a bus at any given time. They also probably didn’t know he used a bus until later. They probably used CCTV cameras to track where he went, but they’d have to do that individually after they found out what happened. He was probably well out of the city before they knew. There’s really nothing they could do except maybe lock the whole city down while they search, but that’s not going to happen.

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    5 days ago

    I wonder who was next in line to be CEO at that outfit? Seems like a great setup to use a hired, trained hit man along with some inscribed bullets to make it seem like a political asassination. In other words, if maybe this wasn’t revenge: who all would benefit from this CEO’s demise?

    • Daemon Silverstein@thelemmy.club
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      If this was a conspiracy to benefit someone to become the next CEO, their shot certainly backfired. The next CEO will be under a massive public scrutiny and if UHC’s policies don’t change, he/she will certainly be the next target.

      Actually, the shot backfired twice: every CEO is now under public scrutiny, as The Adjuster became a powerful symbol of the awakened feeling of “that’s enough” inside everyone who can see the corporation greed.

      As a non-American citizen (Brazilian), I hope this feeling of “that’s enough” could spread beyond US territory, especially towards the southern hemisphere, where the political lobby, bribery and corporate greed is strong and possibly worst than in US. Perhaps it’d bring the fear from people unto politicians and corporations, which will be left with two choices: be changed or be (literally) deposed.

      • yarr@feddit.nl
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        If this was a conspiracy to benefit someone to become the next CEO, their shot certainly backfired. The next CEO will be under a massive public scrutiny and if UHC’s policies don’t change, he/she will certainly be the next target.

        Actually, the shot backfired twice: every CEO is now under public scrutiny, as The Adjuster became a powerful symbol of the awakened feeling of “that’s enough” inside everyone who can see the corporation greed.

        Ah, so you are an optimist. What changes to health insurance/health care do you believe will occur in the next year due to this? I believe in 2 weeks people will be bored and worried about something else, but I’d be curious to know what you foresee.

        • Daemon Silverstein@thelemmy.club
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          Optimistic, me? Lol! I’m far from an optimistic person.

          On the one hand, you’re right, humans easily forget things, especially when our daily lives are so exhausting and humans have limited attention span (it reminds me of a video about an experiment involving attention span where a person wearing a monkey costume appears during a moment where the viewers are trying to count how many times a basketball kicked on the ground: as our eyes are focused on the basketball, we can’t even notice them).

          On the other hand, I never saw this kind of broad and unified reaction and feelings of “justice had been made”. Hell, it even caused a reaction inside myself, and I’m not even an American. I’m Brazilian but I’m following what’s happening around the world, especially what’s happening with USA. I notice how the world has long been a gunpowder barrel, ready to explode. The bad things kept happening, humans kept being enslaved by this modern slavery, humans kept being silenced (“shut up and work, get us our profits, peasant!”), and everything has a tipping point. Everything has an “enough” point. A broad “enough” reaction was just a matter of time. And it seems like it happened through an anonymous symbol of this “enough” sentiment inside everyone.

          At least that’s what I feel, even when I’m from a whole another country and hemisphere, because it’s a system with tentacles over the whole world. Corporations are multinational, they got branches here and there and everywhere. For example: back in 2015 and 2019, hundreds of Brazilians were killed by a mining corporation, when a dam broke, flooded an entire town and drowned people to their deaths. If was known as “Brumadinho dam disaster” and “Mariana dam disaster”. It took years for their families to receive money (I’m not sure if this happened yet, when or how much they received), and some people even weren’t found. People were “indirectly” murdered by a mining corporation, and that mining corporation continued to operate until nowadays!!

          Something definitely needs to change, something definitely needs to happen so our “that’s enough” feelings can be awakened, so things can change even if it’s a little bit.

        • Riskable@programming.dev
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          5 days ago

          in 2 weeks people will be bored and worried about something else

          No fucking way. Because the insurance companies won’t let them!

          For fucking decades from now whenever someone gets screwed over by a health insurance company (which happens to probably hundreds of thousands every day) they’re going to think of this situation.

          The killer has proven there’s an effective means for even poor people to institute change!

          • yarr@feddit.nl
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            5 days ago

            But what outcomes will be different? If the new CEOs sweat a bit and continue denying claims at the new rate, what’s the difference? What actual impact to the people that pay health insurance will occur?

    • nepenthes@lemmy.world
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      It is wild that he was there minutes before CEO walked by, considering the meeting was later and CEO went early. Makes it sound like a more sophisticated operation.