Police: UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson Was Kil...

UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot by an gunman who "targeted" the insurance executive, New York police said Wednesday morning

Published Time: 04.12.2024 - 20:31:18 Modified Time: 04.12.2024 - 20:31:18

UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot by an gunman who "targeted" the insurance executive, New York police said Wednesday morning.

Thompson, 50, was shot by a masked gunman outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan early Wednesday morning, as he was entering the hotel for an investors' conference, NYPD officials said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.

The gunman was "lying in wait for several minutes" outside the Hilton waiting for the arrival of Thompson, who was staying at a hotel across the street, said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Just before 6:45 a.m., the gunman fired at least three bullets at Thompson, hitting him from behind in the back and leg, before fleeing northbound on Sixth Avenue and getting on an electric Citi Bike and fleeing towards Central Park. He was last seen heading into Central Park on the Center Drive at about 6:48 a.m., and remains on the loose.

The suspect is described as a male with light skin, wearing a light brown or cream-colored jacket, a black face -

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mask, black and white sneakers, and a "very distinctive grey backpack," said Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

Thompson was transported to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

The circumstances suggest the unknown gunman deliberately targeted the CEO in a "brazen, targeted attack," Tisch noted, by someone whom Kenny said appears "proficient" in the use of firearms.

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"This does not appear to be a random act of violence," Tisch noted.

Thompson became CEO of the Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group, America's largest private health insurance provider, in 2021, after running the firm's government programs, per his company bio. He joined the company in 2004.