By Associated Press’s Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhardt, and Michael Balsamos
Healthcare SEO shooting
NEW YORK (AP)—As the investigation into the masked shooter who stalked and killed the CEO of one of the biggest health insurers in the United States entered its third day Friday, potential leads regarding his pre-shooting travel and a message written on ammunition recovered from the crime scene have surfaced.
Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was slain in a dawn ambush on Wednesday while he was walking across the street from his midtown hotel to the company’s annual investor meeting. The Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall are popular tourist destinations.
New York City police said the evidence clearly indicates that the killing was a targeted strike, but days later the gunman was still at free and the cause of death was still unknown.
In order to find the gunman’s DNA, investigators tested a discarded water bottle and protein bar wrapper, looked at security camera footage, and attempted to piece together more of the timeline of the shooter’s whereabouts prior to the attack.
According to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation’s specifics, the words “deny, defend, and depose” were discovered emblazoned on the ammunition, echoing a phrase used by critics of the insurance industry.
The phrases “delay, deny, defend” are frequently used by attorneys and critics of the insurance business to characterize strategies used to avoid paying claims, and the messages replicate this language. It describes how insurance companies postpone payments, reject claims, and then defend their positions. Physicians and patients have increasingly criticized health insurers such as UnitedHealthcare for rejecting claims or making it more difficult to acquire care.
According to one of the law enforcement officials, investigators now think the suspect would have taken a bus from Atlanta to New York last month.
In an effort to identify the suspect, police and federal investigators have been gathering information from Greyhound. They are also trying to ascertain whether the suspect bought the ticket to New York in late November, the official stated.
Additionally, investigators were attempting to gather more information from a cellphone that was found in a pedestrian plaza where the shooter had fled.
According to one of the law enforcement sources briefed on the inquiry, authorities visited at least two hostels on Manhattan’s Upper West Side Thursday morning after receiving a tip that the shooter might have slept there. The HI New York City hostel’s lobby served as the location for the images released on Thursday.
In an emailed response, hostel spokesman Danielle Brumfitt stated, “We are fully cooperating with the NYPD and, as this is an ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment at this time.”
New images of a suspect wanted for questioning in relation to Thompson’s murder were made public by police on Thursday.
The pictures, which feature an unmasked man grinning in a Manhattan hostel lobby, are part of a set of pictures and videos that have gone viral since the massacre. These include still shots of the alleged shooter pausing at a Starbucks before the shooting and footage of the actual assault.
According to one of the authorities who talked to the AP, investigators think the suspect checked in at the hostel using a phony New Jersey identification card.
Investigators were informed by hostel staff that they recalled a man who was almost always wearing a mask when he spoke with them or passed by the front desk. According to the official, the individual was wearing a jacket that resembled the one worn by the man in the CCTV photos made public following the shooting.
According to authorities, the gunman rode off on a bicycle after the incident and was last seen entering Central Park.
One of the law enforcement sources told the AP that investigators believe the gunman had at least some firearms training and expertise, and that the weapon was equipped with a silencer, based on surveillance footage and evidence from the site.
According to the official, investigators were also investigating whether the suspect had positioned a bike in advance as part of an escape strategy.
According to security footage, the assassin came up behind Thompson, leveled his weapon, and fired multiple times before the CEO fell to the sidewalk, barely stopping to clear a gun jam. Before he got on the bicycle, cameras captured him running across a public plaza and out of sight.
On a cold morning, the man would not have drawn attention because he was wearing a hooded jacket and a mask that covered most of his face, according to multiple photos that the police published.
Thompson, a Minneapolis suburbia father of two sons, had been employed by UnitedHealthcare, a company situated in Minnetonka, Minnesota, since 2004 and had been the CEO for over three years.
Paulette, his wife, told NBC News on Wednesday that he had informed her that he had been threatened by certain individuals. Although she lacked specifics, she speculated that the threats might have had to do with problems with insurance coverage.
In order to inform investors of its strategy and objectives for the upcoming year, UnitedHealth Group Inc., the parent company of the insurer, was conducting its annual meeting in New York. Following Thompson’s passing, the corporation called off the conference.
approximately 49 million Americans are covered by UnitedHealthcare, which generated approximately $281 billion in revenue in the previous year. In addition to managing health insurance coverage for companies and state and federally sponsored Medicaid programs, it is the biggest supplier of Medicare Advantage plans in the United States.
UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and CVS were included in a Senate report in October that described the recent spike in the company’s prior authorization denial rate for certain Medicare Advantage patients.
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Washington is where Balsamo reported from.
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