Shot by a gunman who was seemingly laying in wait.
Someone went Postal?
I don’t have any details, but I can tell you that UHC raised our health care rates by about 250% this year, and cut benefits at the same time. That led me, and corporate, to dump them and go to Cigna for 2025.
Maybe someone was priced out of insurance and got pissed?
Given insurance/insurers aren’t the most favorably liked companies, there’s probably no shortage of leads to consider.
Fleeing into Central Park, which is just 3 blocks away, makes it more difficult to splice together video footage to track down the shooter.
Plus that area is always really busy - that Hilton is where I usually stay since it’s a block from our NY office.
That was my first thought too. Either someone priced out, or someone who lost a family member and/or went bankrupt because of medical bills/lack of coverage.
Maybe, maybe not…
The NYPD has installed extra surveillance cameras in and around Central Park after a sunbather was attacked and nearly raped in the famed greenspace last month, police said Tuesday.
“Those are not temporary cameras. They’re going to stay in Central Park,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said at a press briefing earlier this month.
The installation happened sometime after the Fourth of July weekend. It wasn’t immediately clear how many cameras were added, but officials previously hinted it would be a significant amount.
“It’s a lot,” Daughtry said at the briefing.
Obviously not condoning this in any way but when you fuck around with people’s lives, you might just find out.
1 Like
My first thought was death of a loved one that the person blames on denied coverage or something along those lines.
Or he was screwing the wrong guy’s wife. Could be any number of things.
Not to derail the conversation, but sometimes I’m shocked by how little people seem to worry about the “find out” stage.
Men who have affairs with married women. People that rip off contractors, and contractors that rip off clients. Bosses that unfairly fire employees, or sexually harass them endlessly, etc.
One comment I heard early on in the coverage spoke to this. There is a whole industry of personal protection for high profile executives for this reason.
Because rarely does anyone do anything violent, most people who even threaten violence are full of hot air.
Is lead poisoning a pre-existing condition?
Point of order
He was the CEO of their insurance group and not UNH the group
(Also stock is up on the day which is interesting)
I’m assigning a not insignificant probability that this had nothing to do with a policyholder.
Seemingly no personal security.
Thompson appeared to be unaware he was in any danger and had no security detail around him, said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives.
Also lots of recent issues with the company.
He had been chief executive since 2021, during a time in which the parent company and his division were rattled by federal investigations even as it enjoyed profitable growth. The division has been criticized by congressional lawmakers and federal regulators who accused it of systematically denying authorization for health care procedures and treatments.
The insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group has also been under federal scrutiny because the parent company was the victim of a broad cyberattack on its billing and payment system, ChangeHealthcare. Private information, including health data, from more than 100 million Americans was compromised in the ransomware attack. The parent company paid $22 million in an effort to stop the hackers.
After Mr. Thompson joined UnitedHealth Group in 2004, he rose steadily, running such key businesses as the company’s government plans, which include its profitable Medicare Advantage operations, which are private plans. UnitedHealthcare’s management of those plans has also been scrutinized by the federal government.
Can’t expect this guy is going to make it very far. E-bike he fled on had GPS.
New York City police have released a description of the shooter and where he fled, based on video footage.
“The shooter appears to be a light-skinned male. He’s wearing a light brown or cream colored jacket, a black face mask, black-and-white sneakers, and a very distinctive gray backpack,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Evidence shows the gunman “approaches the victim from behind and shoots him in the back.”
“The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot. It appears the gun malfunctions as he clears the jam and begins to fire again,” Kenny said.
He said the shooter then fled into an alleyway from West 54th Street to West 55th Street.
“Once at West 55th Street, the shooter continues to walk westbound on Avenue of the Americas, where he gets onto an electric e-Citi bike and rides northbound on Avenue of the Americas toward Central Park, where at 6:48 a.m., we have the shooter riding this bike into Central Park at Center Drive,” Kenny said. “At the scene, we recover three live 9mm rounds and three discharged 9mm shell casings.”
That doesn’t sound like a professional hit man type at all.
(The professionally hired hit man shooter in the Yeti article/thread was more like what you see in the movies. Pull up on a motorcycle, do the deed, escape quickly).
Speculating, of course, but seems this was a well planned action. He knew when victim will show up to the shareholder meeting (earlier, to prep for his presentation) and where (hotel has several entrances from the avenue and streets). Gun usage (clearing and resuming) suggests good operational skills. Citi bike is an interesting twist - how did he access/pay for it to remain not detected?
Probably more than someone, just someone decided to act on it in this matter.