'Turning point': New photos released of alleged shooter in health insurance CEO’s slaying

05 December 2024

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has released two new photos of the shooter allegedly responsible for the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan earlier this week.

On Thursday, MSNBC vice president of editorial and booking Jesse Rodriguez tweeted the photos, which show the alleged gunman with his mask down at the check-in desk of a youth hostel in Manhattan's Upper West Side. In one photo, the alleged shooter is seen smiling from the side, and in the other photo he is looking forward. While the photos show him wearing the same coat, he is only wearing the backpack he had on during the shooting of Thompson in the right-hand photo.

In an interview with CNN host Pamela Brown, John Miller — the network's chief law enforcement analyst — said the photos represent a "turning point" in the investigation as they reveal the face of "the man behind the mask." Miller noted that the alleged killer stayed in a room with two other men on Tuesday and Wednesday, which seemed to dispel theories that the man was a native New Yorker.

"He kept the jacket on and the hood up and the mask up almost at all times, according to people in that hostel. But there was this moment at the front desk in the lobby when the mask came down, and you see that smile," Miller said. "It's an image that, if you knew him — a coworker, a friend, a family member — you would say, 'that's so-and-so."

Video of the shooting shows the gunman using a pistol with a silencer to shoot Thompson in the back outside of the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan early Wednesday morning. At one point, the gun jammed, though the shooter was seen calmly fixing the weapon before firing again as Thompson fell on the sidewalk. Investigators say the shooter wrote the words "delay," "deny" and "depose" on shell casings left at the scene. This is assumed to be a reference to the health insurance industry's slogan: "Delay, deny and defend."

This may suggest a motive behind the shooting. UnitedHealth leads the health insurance industry in claim denials at 32%, which is twice the industry average of 16%. In 2023, Arstechnica reported that UnitedHealth used artificial intelligence with an error rate of approximately 90% to issue denials.

After the murder, the alleged shooter fled the murder scene through an alley, then rode a Citibike to Central Park. He remains at large, and Miller said the NYPD was essentially "crowdsourcing" the investigation to enlist the help of the general public in identifying the person seen on the hostel's surveillance camera.

Watch the video of Miller's analysis below, or by clicking this link.

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