Authorities have yet to uncover the two key issues in the chilling murder of the chief executive of the world’s largest health insurer Wednesday morning in midtown Manhattan: where the suspect is and why he did it. For now, the attacker has been able to play cat and mouse with the New York police, who have orchestrated a manhunt with no results so far. Regarding the second, the author of the murder himself wanted to leave a message to the world: there are words inscribed on the bullets and casings that were found at the crime scene, in front of the Hilton on Sixth Avenue, where he ended the life of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
The NYPD has leaked that the inscriptions include the words ‘delay’ and ‘deny’, which may be related to the health insurance sector, in which Thompson was one of the main leaders. It could be a direct reference to the book ‘Delay, deny, defend’, published in 2010 by Jay Feinman, an emeritus professor of law at Rutgers University. The book deals with the tactics of health insurers to not provide medical coverage to their clients, avoid meeting their obligations and improve their benefits.
Police found three bullets and three shell casings at the crime scene. Apparently, each of them contains an inscribed word. Other inscriptions, according to these police revelations, are ‘depose’.
These inscriptions could point to a motivation of the attacker related to Thompson’s work, who was in charge of an insurance giant. His company, UnitedHealthcare, had been investigated in Congress for denying coverage under Medicare, the public health insurance program for retirees. Specifically, regarding the refusal to cover subsequent treatments for elderly people who had suffered falls or heart attacks. A Senate report determined that UnitedHealthcare had denied 22.7% of this type of coverage in 2022, compared to 10.9% in 2020, according to ‘The New York Times’.
Previous threats
Shortly after the murder, the victim’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that her husband had received “some threats.” “Basically, I don’t know, denial of coverage,” he said of the motivation for the threats. «I don’t know the details. “I only know that there were some people who had threatened him,” the woman added, in a situation that is not uncommon for insurance company executives.
Despite these clues, the exact motives for the murder remain a mystery. Just like the place where the murderer is hiding, despite the fact that the New York police have mobilized an enormous amount of resources to find him, from drones to search dogs, and with a combination of recordings from hundreds of security cameras. security. It is known that he killed Thompson at 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday and that he escaped on an electric bicycle to nearby Central Park, the great green lung of Manhattan, where there are fewer security cameras than on the city streets.
The police have made progress in reconstructing the previous steps taken by the attacker, which could lead to his identification. Before the murder, he went into a Starbucks, where he bought a coffee, water and two energy bars. It has also been discovered that he spent the previous night in a hostel, where he shared a room with two other men he did not know. The establishment is the HI New York City Hostel, on Amsterdam Avenue and 103rd Street, which was searched this Thursday by the police.
Authorities have not yet revealed the name of the attacker, but the portrait is becoming more complete. This Wednesday they shared the first images of the suspect with his face uncovered. Until that moment, in the images that there were of him – both at the time of the murder and at the Starbucks – he always appeared with his face covered. Apparently they were recorded by a security camera at the counter of the hostel where he spent the night. According to witnesses, the man tried to keep his face covered during the time. But cameras captured one of the few moments when it was discovered. In one of these images, the attacker appears smiling.
Another decisive clue is the weapon used. In the images captured of the murder, it appeared that the attacker used a pistol with a silencer
Another decisive clue is the weapon used. In the images captured of the murder, it appeared that the attacker used a pistol with a silencer. Authorities are investigating the purchase of such a weapon in the neighboring state of Connecticut. Despite the high level of gun violence in the US, silenced pistols are very rare as they are subject to restrictions. To purchase them, you must provide fingerprints, a photograph, a background check and a $200 fee.
“We will apprehend him,” New York Mayor, former Police Captain Eric Adams, said of the fugitive suspect in an interview on MSNBC. Researchers are on the right path, he predicted. But the attacker seems to have well prepared not only the murder, but also his escape.
—
#Smiling #face #pistol #silencer #messages #bullets #closer #closer #murderer #CEO #UnitedHealthcare
