Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 05/23/2025 View Thu 05/22/2025 View Wed 05/21/2025 View Tue 05/20/2025 View Mon 05/19/2025 View Sun 05/18/2025 View Sat 05/17/2025
2024-12-06 -Lurid Crime Tales-
Gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson a 'practised, seasoned, trained professional', says FBI expert
[SkyNews] The murder of a top healthcare boss has the hallmarks of a "practised, seasoned, trained professional killer", according to a former FBI special agent.

Terry Rankhorn told Kay Burley on Sky News Breakfast the footage of the shooting in New York City, which police are treating as a targeted hit, was "chilling".

UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, 50, was ambushed at 6.45am local time on Wednesday as he walked to the company's annual investor conference at a Hilton in Midtown.

The attacker fired multiple times at Mr Thompson and continued despite the gun briefly jamming, according to police.

Shell casings, recovered from the scene, had the words "defend", "deny", and "depose" written on them according to Sky News' US partner, NBC News, which spoke to a senior New York City law enforcement official.

"What you can determine from his behaviour is this person is a practised, seasoned, trained professional killer," Mr Rankhorn said.

"He doesn't run up like an inexperienced, emotional but amateur killer... this person calmly walks out," he added.

"He paces his target. He draws his weapon. He takes careful aim and then fires at his target once. And then you can see the weapon malfunction.

"He calmly clears the malfunction, fires again, and advances on his target. This isn't some drug-addled murderer. This is a professional."

Security cameras also captured the gunman's escape on an e-bike into Central Park. Police used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intense search, but he has not been traced.

New York City Police Department (NYPD) commissioner Jessica Tisch said the shooting was no random act of violence, but a "premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack", although the motive is unclear.

Police released images of the man, who wore a hooded jacket and a mask that concealed most of his face.

Mr Rankhorn shared his thoughts about the man's getaway: "He clearly had a preplanned escape route. This is someone who knows their craft. They're practised at it. And, it was an extremely effective and efficient assassination."

"The e-bike is actually a shockingly effective tool in New York City because of the traffic... they can weave in and out of traffic even if he was being pursued by a police-marked vehicle."

The murdered CEO had been receiving recent threats but hadn't been altering his travel routine, according to his wife Paulette Thompson.

The New York Post adds:
The NYPD is investigating the possible message — which appears to include the words “deny,” “depose” and “defend” — engraved on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the masked assassin after he shot Thompson, 50, several times at about 6:46 a.m. before fleeing, the sources said. The words are possible attacks on the health insurance industry, in which Thompson is one of the most powerful leaders — and strikingly similar to a 2010 book condemning the business.

“Delay, Deny, Defend” — two of the three words seemingly left — is sub-titled: “Why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it.”

Police are looking at possible ties to the book, as well as more general references to the health industry, as a potential motive, sources told The Post.

The book’s author, Jay M. Feinman — a distinguished professor emeritus at Rutgers Law School — declined to comment Thursday morning.

The NYPD released a new photo of the hooded suspect standing in front of the counter at the Starbucks at West 56th Street and 6th Avenue, just minutes from the Hilton hotel where he gunned down Thompson, 50.

Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice.

He then ran into an alleyway and hopped on an e-bike, which he rode north along Sixth Avenue into Central Park, where surveillance camera coverage is spotty, police said.

But the suspect may have made some major mistakes that could help investigators identify him.

He bought coffee, a water bottle and two PowerBars at a nearby Starbucks before the killing and tossed his bottle and coffee cup in a trash can — which cops dug out of the garbage and now have as evidence, according to sources.

And investigators also discovered a phone in an alleyway near the Hilton which they believe belongs to the killer, the sources said. Investigators have obtained a search warrant to comb through the contents of the phone.
The NY Post has also been liveblogging developments, and includes new photos of thr miscreant at the link:
The suspected killer who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson came to New York City on an interstate Greyhound bus last month, police sources told The Post.

The suspect arrived at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan back on Nov. 24 after it set off from Atlanta, Georgia, according to the sources. It wasn't immediately clear, though, where the cold-blooded gunman jumped on the bus. After setting foot in the Big Apple, he checked into the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side before going to stake out the Hilton Hotel in Midtown where he ended up killing Thompson early Wednesday.

The gunman's whereabouts in the days leading up to the shooting are slowly being pieced together by cops as the citywide manhunt for the killer continued.

New footage emerged Thursday showing the suspect in the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson strolling out of a Manhattan subway station just 30 minutes before the fatal shooting. The suspected gunman -- accused of shooting the executive execution-style on a Midtown street -- was seen leaving what appears to be the 57th Street station around 6:15 a.m., in the newly-obtained surveillance video taken from a cigar store on Sixth Avenue.

The suspected gunman who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had checked into an Upper West Side hostel using a fake New Jersey ID, law enforcement sources told The Post.

Minnesota police received a bomb threat at the home of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson the same day he was shot and killed in the Big Apple, according to a new report. The Maple Grove City attorney received an email claiming there was a pipe bomb at Thompson’s home around 7 p.m. Wednesday, TMZ reports. Thompson was murdered in midtown Manhattan shortly before 7 a.m.
And from PJ Media:
The gunman's use of a Citibike was a telltale sign to investigators that he was not very sophisticated.

New York Times:

Between the creation of a Citi Bike account, connecting it to a credit card, undocking it, riding it around the city and docking it at a new location, every user creates many “streams of digital breadcrumbs” that can help Lyft, the company that operates Citi Bike, track the user’s location, and possibly their identity, Mr. Shmoys said.

Combined with the user’s phone data and location shared with cell towers, “It is amazing how much information is conveyed,” Mr. Shmoys said.

Thompson was one of several senior executives at United Healthcare whom the Justice Department was investigating for insider trading. Thompson, along with UnitedHealth Group chairman Stephen Helmsley, Chief People Officer Erin McSweeney, and Chief Accounting Officer Tom Roos, sold a combined $101.5 million in shares before the Justice Department investigation became known last February.
Posted by Skidmark 2024-12-06 00:52|| || Front Page|| [11159 views ]  Top

#1 Soap Box Alert - this guy is not a practised, seasoned, trained professional killer. He may be well trained (so is Todd Jarrett and Jerry Miculek) but that doesn't make them "professional killers". This EfBeye guy is a clown.

Pros don't;
--Leave a burner behind
--Leave DNA so close to the scene
--Shoot the target in the calf from less than 15 feet
--Use a suppressed weapon that requires you to rack the slide each time (though he did appear to anticipate that)
--Stay in a shared dorm room style place w/2 unknowns the night before the job

Now the shooter did a bunch of things right;
--Taking the bus and using a fake ID to rent a room at a hostel
--Maybe used that ID (or another) to buy the bus ticket (if even asked)
--Likely took a few buses enroute to further mask his travel and possibly transport the weapon w/o scrutiny.
--Fix the target in place and time
--Stage the e-bike for good mobility in NYC traffic

If they catch the shooter (I think they will), I'd bet this will be a personal grievance vs. a contract hit. Outside of the cartels, you could fill 2 school buses with all the legit contract killers in the US and have seats left over. The act is the easy part. Getting away is difficult.

Off Soap Box...
Posted by Bangkok Billy 2024-12-06 04:18||   2024-12-06 04:18|| Front Page Top

#2 Photos and more on, of the shooter.
Posted by NN2N1 2024-12-06 06:18||   2024-12-06 06:18|| Front Page Top

#3 CEO Assassin May Have Used 'Covert-Type' Weapon - Took Greyhound Bus To NYC Last Month

STATION SIX 9
Posted by Skidmark 2024-12-06 07:56||   2024-12-06 07:56|| Front Page Top

#4 I was curious about the backpack. Never seen one like that before (or the pistol for that matter). Thanks for the info Skid.
Posted by Besoeker 2024-12-06 08:04||   2024-12-06 08:04|| Front Page Top

#5 B.Billy - add to your "don't" list:

Don't drop your mask when the desk clerk you're flirting with asks to see your smile.
Posted by Mercutio 2024-12-06 08:31||   2024-12-06 08:31|| Front Page Top

#6 FBI level mix of professionalism and stupidity.
Posted by Regular joe 2024-12-06 10:21||   2024-12-06 10:21|| Front Page Top

#7 Motive? Normalize Assassination in the US. Cf Trump.
Posted by Regular joe 2024-12-06 10:22||   2024-12-06 10:22|| Front Page Top

#8 FBI "expert" is a fucking joke
Posted by DarthVader 2024-12-06 10:52||   2024-12-06 10:52|| Front Page Top

#9 Going back to previous discussions about the misfires/professional hit.
My experience with suppressors is they cause a lot of blowback, thus fouling the action/misfires. IMO, A professional most likely would have a clean disposable firearm. A pro would most likely not be interested in virtue signalling.
Posted by The Walking Unvaxed 2024-12-06 12:47||   2024-12-06 12:47|| Front Page Top

#10 /\ "A pro most likely not interesting virtue signalling."

Loitering around the area? Burner fone? WTF? Highly paid terminated employee, or son of terminated employee.
My guess, and only a guess.
Posted by Besoeker 2024-12-06 13:04||   2024-12-06 13:04|| Front Page Top

#11 Doesn’t look like a crazy person or someone with a grudge. There were two few mistakes to be an amateur, but enough for it not to be a three letter agency. To me it looks like a Reddit rental level hit.
Posted by Super Hose 2024-12-06 13:33||   2024-12-06 13:33|| Front Page Top

#12 Online sleuths looking into the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson claim two sets of images showing the killer are of different people.

Why use such an archaic weapon?
Because it was one he had access to.
Posted by Skidmark 2024-12-06 16:24||   2024-12-06 16:24|| Front Page Top

#13 a "practised, seasoned, trained professional killer", according to a former FBI special agent.

My guess is the perp does not do this for a living but spent some time thinking about it.

My question is why is the FBI shopping this particular story. Think they have a Known Wolf file on the guy?
Posted by SteveS 2024-12-06 16:52||   2024-12-06 16:52|| Front Page Top

#14 Maybe a graduate of a secondary Antifa camp, and why explaining the curriculum and their very existence might be awkward.

Harf gerf fang dang-o, he so good we may never catch him.
Posted by swksvolFF 2024-12-06 17:09||   2024-12-06 17:09|| Front Page Top

#15 The gun seems to be a low production model. NICS would have the serial numbers to reference buyers (or retail sellers). Shooter probably got the gun second hand but there is always a trail.
Posted by The Walking Unvaxed 2024-12-06 17:10||   2024-12-06 17:10|| Front Page Top

#16 #14 Antifa is also my take and Minneapolis has a coven In residence. Must have used phone to get movement info re the target.. but why drop it?
Posted by Alpha2c 2024-12-06 17:38||   2024-12-06 17:38|| Front Page Top

#17 

"Leave the gun and take the cannoli".
Posted by Woodrow 2024-12-06 18:53||   2024-12-06 18:53|| Front Page Top

#18 Must have used phone to get movement info re the target.. but why drop it?

Maybe an oopsie, maybe he was done with it. Taking the battery out will stop tracking, but as soon as it has power again, the phone will ping the nearest cell tower.

Or maybe he wanted the phone found, what with it being full of "evidence and connections".
Posted by SteveS 2024-12-06 20:13||   2024-12-06 20:13|| Front Page Top

#19 If the response to COVID is anything, it shows that your PED/Phone is a tracking device.

So the egress is important for collecting the retirement policy, but you need be updated by a spy somewhere in the plan to track movement.

I'd think, remove the battery ASAP, SIM Card too, then drop the phone someplace it would be destroyed, like in the middle of an intersection. Unless one wants it to be found.

If the etching thing is true, how was it done? Sharpie, physical etching technique, laser etching? That would indicate the want of 'passing a message', no? The difference between some graffiti paint marker vs. some sort of stamp.

*off take, CitiBike tracks you

**on reflection, taking out a leg prevents 'going serpentine'.
Posted by swksvolFF 2024-12-06 20:46||   2024-12-06 20:46|| Front Page Top

17:04 Abu Uluque
17:02 swksvolFF
16:48 Grom the Affective
16:46 Grom the Affective
16:46 Mullah Richard
16:05 swksvolFF
15:26 Procopius2k
15:23 NN2N1
14:59 Pancho Poodle8452
14:52 Rambler
14:51 Grom the Affective
14:41 Elmerert Hupens2660
14:31 Regular joe
14:28 trailing wife
14:25 magpie
14:18 Elmerert Hupens2660
14:14 Regular joe
14:10 Super Hose
14:08 Super Hose
14:08 Regular joe
14:02 Super Hose
14:01 trailing wife
14:01 trailing wife
13:58 trailing wife









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com