Who is Brian Thompson? Everything we know about the UnitedHealthcare CEO and his murder in New York City
The gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday is believed to have traveled to New York City on a Greyhound bus 10 days before the killing as the manhunt for the suspected shooter enters its fourth day.
Thompson, 50, a father of two, was shot at point-blank range near the New York Hilton Midtown on Wednesday morning just before a scheduled investor meeting.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday “the net is tightening” around the suspect after police found a backpack they believe belonged to the shooter in Central Park late Friday. On Saturday, MSNBC reported that the backpack contained Monopoly money and a jacket, but no weapon.
Adams added that law enforcement officials do not want to release the suspect’s name at this time.
“If we do, we are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all,” Adams said.
Here’s everything we know so far about the fatal attack on the 50-year-old insurance CEO:
The unidentified shooter had been hiding behind a car outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan for about five minutes when Thompson exited, police said. The suspect was spotted at a nearby Starbucks on West 56th Street and 6th Avenue shortly before the shooting.
The shooter, who was wearing a mask, approached Thompson from behind and shot him in the right calf and back at 6:46 a.m. Video of the incident shows the shooter calmly walking up behind Thompson before shooting him, then calmly crossing the street. The footage also showed a bystander running away as the suspect opened fire.
“The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot. It appears that the gun malfunctions as he clears the jam and begins to fire again,” New York Police Department’s Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
Thompson was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Police described the shooter as a white man wearing a black hoodie and black pants with a gray backpack. Police announced Friday they found what appears to be that same backpack in Central Park.
The suspect may have used a veterinary gun, according to Kenny. Veterinary guns are larger guns used by farmers to put down animals without making a loud noise.
“It’s meant for close-up killing,” CNN’s Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said of veterinary guns. “It’s meant for vets to kill an animal by shooting it in the head or somewhere, you know, that’s going to be fatal. But it would work the exact same way on humans, very effectively and extraordinarily quietly.”
The shooter fled the scene through an alleyway on an e-bike. He biked via Sixth Avenue to Central Park. Soon afterward, security footage shows the suspect entering the Port Authority Bus Terminal, police said. However, they did not find footage of him leaving, indicating he may have left the city on a bus.
