United Healthcare CEO shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan this morning (Update 12/9: Suspect in custody)
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UnitedHealth Group is increasing security after Brian Thompson’s killing, executive says
In comments shared with the Guardian, Andrew Witty said ‘permanent’ changes would make campuses less ‘welcoming’
www.theguardian.com
UnitedHealthcare is increasing security after Brian Thompson’s killing, executive says
In comments shared with the Guardian, Andrew Witty said ‘permanent’ changes would make campuses less ‘welcoming’
Jessica Glenza
Fri 6 Dec 2024 16.50 EST
The CEO of UnitedHealth Group, Andrew Witty, told employees he would increase security, including “perimeter protection”, at the company’s sites following the killing of one of their colleagues, CEO of the company’s health insurance branch Brian Thompson.
In comments shared with the Guardian, Witty said the company would make “permanent” changes that would make campuses less “welcoming”, but they were necessary in the country’s current “climate”.
“We guard against the pressures that exist for unsafe or unnecessary care to be delivered, in a way that makes the whole system too complex and ultimately unsustainable,” Witty said, according to comments shared with the Guardian.
Clues emerge but no arrests yet as New York police hunt health CEO’s killer
Read more
“I have never been more proud of what this company and our colleagues do on behalf of the people in this country. I urge you to tune out the negative messaging you hear on social media,” Witty said.
Witty made the comments in the face of online vitriol in response to the killing of Thompson, a 50-year-old CEO of United HealthCare, who is survived by two sons and his wife, Paulette.
Thompson was killed early Wednesday morning in midtown Manhattan, just outside the site of the company’s annual investor meeting, by an unknown assailant who shot the executive at least twice and then fled on an ebike.
Police are still searching for the suspect, and released photos and information about items found at the scene, including shell casings scrawled with the words, “deny,” “depose” and “defend”. The motive for the killing is unknown.
The killing has been strongly condemned by lawmakers such as Amy Klobuchar, Democratic US Senator of Minnesota, who on social media described Thompson’s death as a “horrifying and shocking act of violence”.
In response to questions about the webcast and comments, a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group referred the Guardian to a published statement: “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place.
So many patients, consumers, healthcare professionals, associations, government officials and other caring people have taken time out of their day to reach out. We are thankful, even as we grieve.
Our priorities are, first and foremost, supporting Brian’s family; ensuring the safety of our employees; and working with law enforcement to bring the perpetrator to justice.
We, at UnitedHealth Group, will continue to be there for those who depend upon us for their health care.
We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn the loss of their husband, father, brother and friend.”
In a webcast to employees shared with the Guardian, Witty said that the company would, “provide as much support as we could possibly do to Brian’s family” and “for as long as the family need us”.
Witty then turned to security of the company’s sites: “We’ve also been working hard to make sure that people who feel concerned about security, individually, but more importantly perhaps for our sites, continues to be reviewed and strengthened and to make sure we have put in place all of the appropriate mechanisms to keep our organization and our people safe.”
The CEO also said the company would strengthen the “perimeter protection” of UHC campuses as time goes on.
“We will see permanent changes that will make our sites less welcoming, especially for guests and visitors, but it’s a necessary change to make in the changing climate in this country,” Witty said.
The comments come as corporate CEOs are on edge following Thompson’s death, and as political violence researchers warn that the online reaction to the killing is evidence of the growing acceptability of violence as a means to resolve conflict in the US.
In another part of what appears to be the same webcast, Witty also lambasted the media coverage of Thompson’s death.
“I’d like to give you a little bit of advice around the media,” said Witty in video obtained by reporter Ken Klippenstein and republished by the Daily Beast. “My strong advice and request to everybody is just don’t engage with the media. If you’re approached, I would recommend not responding and, if necessary, simply refer them to our own media organization.”
The gun didn't jam its a old ww2 era silenced gun that you have to cycle the rounds by handBreh you really think she really gonna hire a hitman who jammed his gun, seen on multiple CCTVs, and wrote the title of a book on each bullet to merc dude?
Where she hire this dude from some version of hitman Etsy?
Look at these fukkin lies:
While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place.
So many patients, consumers, healthcare professionals, associations, government officials and other caring people have taken time out of their day to reach out. We are thankful, even as we grieve.
Not one past patient, consumer, or doctor has anything good to say about these evil fukks but apparently there was an outpouring of grief?
This whole world is a lie. Every public statement sent out to the public is complete bs
While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place.
So many patients, consumers, healthcare professionals, associations, government officials and other caring people have taken time out of their day to reach out. We are thankful, even as we grieve.
Not one past patient, consumer, or doctor has anything good to say about these evil fukks but apparently there was an outpouring of grief?
This whole world is a lie. Every public statement sent out to the public is complete bs
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It pisses me off. It's the best example of our nation's politicians not representing the collective will of the people. They are bought by the insurance lobby and have sold us out.
The irony of you speculating like the people you complaining about.
If someone is determined to kill a specific man, then of course they knew exactly where he was. That doesn't denote that the killer knew dude personally.
Reminds me of your punk ass. You be talking like you tough and some kingpin but the forget that you also made a thread admitting you got robbed and stripped for 12 gs.
lol tranny lover
Why top internet sleuths say they won't help find the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer
TikTok users who would normally leap at the chance to identify an alleged criminal are standing down during the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
www.nbcnews.com
Why top internet sleuths say they won't help find the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer
TikTok users who would normally leap at the chance to identify an alleged criminal are standing down during the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Some online sleuths say they're not going to participate in the hunt for the United Healthcare CEO's killer. Leila Register / NBC News; Getty Images; UnitedHealthcare; NYPD
Dec. 6, 2024, 7:11 PM EST / Updated Dec. 7, 2024, 10:31 AM EST
By Melissa Chan and Kalhan Rosenblatt
A high-profile violent crime typically sets social media abuzz with tips and theories from amateur internet sleuths, hunting for the alleged perpetrator.
But after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in New York City this week without a primary suspect being identified, a rare occurrence happened in the thriving true-crime world: silence online from highly followed armchair detectives.
“I have yet to see a single video that’s pounding the drum of ‘we have to find him,’ and that is unique,” said Michael McWhorter, better known as TizzyEnt on TikTok, where he posts true crime and viral news content for his 6.7 million followers. “And in other situations of some kind of blatant violence, I would absolutely be seeing that.”
A masked gunman, who is still on the lam, fatally shot the 50-year-old executive in front of a busy New York City hotel Wednesday, police said. A senior New York City law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said Thursday that shell casings found at the scene had the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on them but police clarified Friday that it was “delay” and not “defend.”
Thompson’s targeted killing has sparked online praise from people angry over the state of U.S. health care. Tens of thousands of people have expressed support on social media for the killing or sympathized with it. Some even appeared to celebrate it.
“The surge of social media posts praising and glorifying the killing of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson is deeply concerning,” Alex Goldenberg, a senior adviser at The Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University previously told NBC News. (Thompson was CEO of UnitedHealthcare, not of UnitedHealth Group, its parent company.)
In a statement, Thompson’s family said he was “an incredibly loving father” to two sons and “will be greatly missed.”
“We are shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian,” the statement said. “Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives.”
Still, some of the most popular internet sleuths have sat out the investigation.
“We’re pretty apathetic towards that,” Savannah Sparks, who has 1.3 million followers on her TikTok account — where she tracks down and reveals the identities of people who do racist or seemingly criminal acts in viral videos — said about helping to identify the shooter. She added that, rather than sleuthing, her community has “concepts of thoughts and prayers. It’s, you know, claim denied on my prayers there,” referring to rote and unserious condolences.
Although Sparks, 34, has been tapped by law enforcement in the past to help train officers on how to find suspects online, according to emails seen by NBC News, she said this time she isn’t interested in helping police.
Sparks, who also works in health care as a lactation consultant and holds a doctorate of pharmacy, didn’t mince words when asked if her community was working to find the suspect in Thompson’s murder.
“Absolutely the f--- not,” she said.
Another popular TikTok sleuth, thatdaneshguy, who has 2 million followers on the platform, made a video that was critical of the health care industry, saying that he wouldn’t try to identify the killer. “I don’t have to encourage violence. I don’t have to condone violence by any means. But I also don’t have to help,” he said.
That attitude among some content creators comes amid amplified attention on frustrations with medical care in the U.S. in the wake of the killing.
A Gallup poll released Friday found that Americans believe health care quality is at a 24-year low. Those polled said health care coverage is even worse, with 54% saying it’s fair or poor.
Online sleuths have helped the FBI identify hundreds of Capitol rioters and catch previously arrested Jan. 6 defendants committing crimes that the bureau’s own review had missed, in one case even finding evidence of a Proud Boy assaulting an officer in the middle of his seditious conspiracy trial.
And when Gabby Petito, 22, went missing as she documented her cross-country travels on social media with her fiancé, online sleuths jumped into action. It was later determined that Petito was killed by her fiancé Brian Laundrie, who died by suicide.
At least one person who did try to help find Thompson’s killer was criticized on X, formerly known as Twitter, for doing so.
In a viral post, Riley Walz, a software engineer, said he was “fairly confident” about where the shooter fled to on a bike after scouring data from the Citi Bike’s bikeshare program. He said he shared the information with the police.
But a source close to Lyft, which operates Citi Bike, later said the NYPD told the company directly that the incident did not involve the bikeshare program.
Walz declined to comment Friday. Since his post, some X users have called him a “snitch.” McWhorter, or TikTok’s TizzyEnt, said backlash toward those who did try to help might cause others to not want to step in.
“If you’re seeing it in such a groundswell, I have to imagine that factors into some people’s decision,” he said.
But mostly, McWhorter said, “there’s this weird thing, this vibe of like, I don’t see a bunch of people just feeling an urgency.”
McWhorter posted his first video about the incident Friday evening. The roughly two-minute video was about “how much people don’t care.”
Sukrit Venkatagiri, an assistant professor of computer science at Swarthmore College, said many people feel a lack of connection with a wealthy CEO.
“They don’t really empathize with who the victim is in this scenario,” Venkatagiri said.
Venkatagiri, who has studied the harms of misinformation and disinformation as well as crowd sourcing investigations, said, anecdotally, he has seen less talk of finding Thompson’s killer on spaces like the subreddit r/Reddit Bureau of Investigations, an online sleuthing page on Reddit that claims it is “using the power of the internet to solve real-world problems.”
“People are less motivated, from an altruistic perspective, to help this victim in this specific case,” Venkatagiri said.
Beyond a lack of online sleuthing, which can sometimes muddy law enforcement’s investigations, there has been a flurry of information released by the New York Police Department.
Police released two images of a “person of interest,” including one in which he is smiling while using a fake ID to check out of a hostel on New York City’s Upper West Side, as well as several surveillance videos, including one in which the suspect shoots Thompson.
Investigators believe the shooter may have traveled to New York City from Atlanta last month by bus, three senior law enforcement officials familiar with the case told NBC News.
Investigators have not identified a suspect, although the investigation is ongoing, a senior law enforcement official briefed on the matter said Friday. Police have found dozens of images from surveillance cameras of the suspect from tracking his timeline in Manhattan, the official said.
Police have offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction
I used to work for United healthcare about a decade ago. I worked in the claims department. There was a day that a member needed a life-saving surgery within 48 hours but the physicians refused to do the surgery because United healthcare did not approve of it yet and they stated that on several other occasions they would perform a surgery the claim would be denied afterward and they will never be paid. I tried calling the approval department and relaying back and forth between them and the provider's office for a whole day and nothing was done. I spoke with the member and the provider's office and they both told me that if the member did not have the surgery she would die and it never got done. I did not follow up with her after that but I am certain she lost her life due to the foul practices of that company. I don't want to say that I am celebrating the death of that man however, what goes around comes around 
Jesus H. Christ
I died for your sins
He might have pop out again and show crehs
Certified CEO boogie man
He's the one to up the sco' on em
You got Nicole, AKA Kasper, venturing all the way to a CEO muder thread to suck dikk and be obsessive. What do they have in the water in New York? Somebody help me understand
Punk ass bytches… Do they think their security can’t get touched as wellUnitedHealth Group is increasing security after Brian Thompson’s killing, executive says
In comments shared with the Guardian, Andrew Witty said ‘permanent’ changes would make campuses less ‘welcoming’
UnitedHealthcare is increasing security after Brian Thompson’s killing, executive says
In comments shared with the Guardian, Andrew Witty said ‘permanent’ changes would make campuses less ‘welcoming’
Jessica Glenza
Fri 6 Dec 2024 16.50 EST
The CEO of UnitedHealth Group, Andrew Witty, told employees he would increase security, including “perimeter protection”, at the company’s sites following the killing of one of their colleagues, CEO of the company’s health insurance branch Brian Thompson.
In comments shared with the Guardian, Witty said the company would make “permanent” changes that would make campuses less “welcoming”, but they were necessary in the country’s current “climate”.
“We guard against the pressures that exist for unsafe or unnecessary care to be delivered, in a way that makes the whole system too complex and ultimately unsustainable,” Witty said, according to comments shared with the Guardian.
Clues emerge but no arrests yet as New York police hunt health CEO’s killer
Read more
“I have never been more proud of what this company and our colleagues do on behalf of the people in this country. I urge you to tune out the negative messaging you hear on social media,” Witty said.
Witty made the comments in the face of online vitriol in response to the killing of Thompson, a 50-year-old CEO of United HealthCare, who is survived by two sons and his wife, Paulette.
Thompson was killed early Wednesday morning in midtown Manhattan, just outside the site of the company’s annual investor meeting, by an unknown assailant who shot the executive at least twice and then fled on an ebike.
Police are still searching for the suspect, and released photos and information about items found at the scene, including shell casings scrawled with the words, “deny,” “depose” and “defend”. The motive for the killing is unknown.
The killing has been strongly condemned by lawmakers such as Amy Klobuchar, Democratic US Senator of Minnesota, who on social media described Thompson’s death as a “horrifying and shocking act of violence”.
In response to questions about the webcast and comments, a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group referred the Guardian to a published statement: “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place.
So many patients, consumers, healthcare professionals, associations, government officials and other caring people have taken time out of their day to reach out. We are thankful, even as we grieve.
Our priorities are, first and foremost, supporting Brian’s family; ensuring the safety of our employees; and working with law enforcement to bring the perpetrator to justice.
We, at UnitedHealth Group, will continue to be there for those who depend upon us for their health care.
We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn the loss of their husband, father, brother and friend.”
In a webcast to employees shared with the Guardian, Witty said that the company would, “provide as much support as we could possibly do to Brian’s family” and “for as long as the family need us”.
Witty then turned to security of the company’s sites: “We’ve also been working hard to make sure that people who feel concerned about security, individually, but more importantly perhaps for our sites, continues to be reviewed and strengthened and to make sure we have put in place all of the appropriate mechanisms to keep our organization and our people safe.”
The CEO also said the company would strengthen the “perimeter protection” of UHC campuses as time goes on.
“We will see permanent changes that will make our sites less welcoming, especially for guests and visitors, but it’s a necessary change to make in the changing climate in this country,” Witty said.
The comments come as corporate CEOs are on edge following Thompson’s death, and as political violence researchers warn that the online reaction to the killing is evidence of the growing acceptability of violence as a means to resolve conflict in the US.
In another part of what appears to be the same webcast, Witty also lambasted the media coverage of Thompson’s death.
“I’d like to give you a little bit of advice around the media,” said Witty in video obtained by reporter Ken Klippenstein and republished by the Daily Beast. “My strong advice and request to everybody is just don’t engage with the media. If you’re approached, I would recommend not responding and, if necessary, simply refer them to our own media organization.”
