Police Hunt Gunman After Executive Is Killed in ‘Brazen Targeted Attack’
The New York Times
Brian Thompson, the head of UnitedHealthcare, was the victim of what the police said was a targeted shooting. His killer shot him in the back, then walked coolly away.
The killer arrived first. He stood in the cold predawn gloom outside the New York Hilton Midtown and waited. Even at that early hour, people passed by. He ignored them. They ignored him.
At 6:44 a.m., he saw his man. Brian Thompson, 50, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare — the leader of one of the country’s largest companies — walking past in a blue suit toward the entrance to the Hilton.
It was the site of press events and celebrity galas dating back to Elvis Presley and Ronald Reagan. On Wednesday, it was where UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investors day, and within an hour it would be filled with Wall Street analysts and stockholders.
The killer popped out from behind a car and raised a pistol fitted with a long silencer. What followed was what the police would call a bold assassination, which shook the insurance industry and sent a jolt through an area packed with holiday tourists.
By nightfall, a sprawling manhunt with police officers, dogs and drones spread citywide, bearing down on surveillance videos, a dropped cellphone and even Citi Bike data in search of the killer.
The police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who was sworn in 10 days ago, called it a “brazen targeted attack,” adding, “We will not rest until we identify and apprehend the shooter in this case.”
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