Topline
The man suspected of shooting Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, is still at large nearly five days after the murder on Dec. 4 in New York City and is believed to have left the city—although little is known about the suspect as the investigation continues.
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 4: Police officers investigate the scene where Thompson was … [+]
Key Facts
The latest photos from the New York Police Department released on Dec. 8 gave a new look at the still-unidentified alleged gunman, showing his eyes as he peered forward from the back seat of a taxi and stood outside the taxi wearing a black jacket and medical mask.
He reportedly stayed in New York City for more than a week prior to the shooting, after arriving in the city on a Greyhound bus from Atlanta on Nov. 24, although it isn’t confirmed if this was the start of his trip.
Police believe the suspect stayed at the HI New York City hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, checking in before Nov. 29 and again on Nov. 30 with cash and a fake ID from New Jersey—the clearest photos of the suspect came from the hostel, as he reportedly lowered his mask to flirt with a woman while checking in.
Few other details about his appearance are available, but New York Police released images on Dec. 4 of the suspect gunning down Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan with an unidentified, sound-suppressed 9 mm pistol and standing inside a Starbucks before the killing, revealing him to be a light-skinned masked male then wearing a gray backpack, black and white sneakers and a hooded jacket.
The gunman was waiting for Thompson to arrive that morning, in what appeared to be a targeted shooting, the city’s police commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters in a Dec. 4 conference.
His gun jammed during the incident, but the shooter appeared to be “proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly,” said Joseph Kenny, NYPD Chief of Detectives.
He left behind few clues, but police reportedly found a phone in the alley used by the suspect to escape, a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that were reportedly purchased at a nearby Starbucks before the murder, and a backpack suspected of belonging to the shooter in Central Park containing a jacket and Monopoly money.
Bullet casings at the murder scene reportedly penned with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” a suspected reference to criticisms of the insurance industry and the methods they employ to deny medical claims.
Police reports, photos and video revealed his flight through Manhattan on Wednesday, showing he walked away from the murder scene, got on an electric bike, entered Central Park in the early morning of Dec. 4 and was spotted on a camera at the George Washington Bridge bus station less than an hour after the shooting, with police suspecting he escaped New York City on a bus.
Key Background
Brian Thompson, 50, was visiting the New York Hilton Midtown for UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference and was shot several times from behind around 7 a.m. EST. The company held the 19th spot in 2024 on Forbes’ ranking of the world’s largest public firms. Police said it does “not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premediated, targeted attack.” Thompson was a father and had been CEO since 2021. Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, said it plans to cooperate with the investigation. The FBI posted a $50,000 award for details on the shooter, aside from the NYPD’s $10,000 award for details and information on the shooter.
Did The Shooter Escape On A Citi Bike?
No. Multiple reports throughout the event identified the shooter’s escape bike as an electric Citi Bike, a publicly available New York City transportation method that requires users to pay to unlock the bikes through an account. During the early hours of the investigation, it was suspected that data from the bikes might help identify the killer. The Associated Press, and journalists on X, later reported the police told Lyft, the company that manages the bikes, its bikes were not used.
Why Hasn’t The Suspect Been Caught?
The New York Police Department has flown helicopters, searched through security cameras throughout the area, maintained drones and used dogs to find the shooter after the gunman escaped. Multiple outlets have reported that police have hundreds of pieces of evidence and are investigating everything possible related to his path through New York. The New York Times reported, citing a senior law enforcement officer that the difficulty in identifying the suspect is partly because the shooter’s hooded and masked face hid him from cameras, saying he was “camera-savvy.” The New York Times also reported, citing investigators, that he was “lucky” to not have left behind many fingerprints. A fingerprint from one of his Starbucks purchases was unusable, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told the Associated Press. Multiple reports say the gunman only removed his mask to eat and to check in at the hotel. “I don’t think I’ve seen this level of operational preplanning in any crime, never mind in a murder,” Kenneth Corey, a former chief at NYPD, told the New York Times.
What Else Do We Know About The Shooter?
Officials have yet to release the name of the suspect, update information on his identity and provide a motive for the killing.
