This Wednesday, a mysterious man, known as the “smiling killer,” shot and killed Brian Thompson, the director of a major United States (U.S.) insurance company UnitedHealthcare, in the middle of Manhattan.
Thompson lived in Minnesota, where the company is headquartered, and had come to New York for the annual shareholders’ meeting. Appointed CEO in 2021, he was responsible for selling insurance to people eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, the U.S. government healthcare programs for the elderly, disabled, and poor.
In May, Thompson was accused of fraud and insider trading. The Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund sued UnitedHealthcare and three executives: Andrew Witty, Stephen Hemsley, and Thompson. They were accused of artificially inflating the company’s stock by concealing news that the U.S. Department of Justice had launched an antitrust investigation against the company.
Although the murder occurred on Wednesday, and the police immediately shared a photo of the attacker with the media, thousands of street cameras in New York have yet to yield any significant leads on his identity.
Furthermore, law enforcement officials stated that it’s possible the attacker has already fled New York. In other words, no one knows where he is, and there’s a good chance he has already left the U.S., potentially traveling to a place like Mexico. It could take weeks to sift through the vast number of video recordings from all the locations where the attacker might have been.
Police currently believe that the suspect arrived in New York ten days before the murder – on November 24th. During his stay, the suspect was captured on camera several times, but he always raised his hood and wore a mask in public spaces. The only time cameras captured his face was at the hostel where he stayed, when the receptionist said, “Show me that pretty smile of yours.”
“He knows he’s on camera – this is New York. It’ll take weeks to go through it all, but they’ll practically make a movie out of his time in the city,” said John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
“Although the attacker carefully planned many aspects of his crime and escape, he might be surprised by how far the New York City Police Department (NYPD) will go in collecting video. They’ll reconstruct all ten days he spent in New York. And I don’t think he’s counting on that,” added Kenneth Corey, a former Chief of the NYPD.
Minutes after Thompson was killed, a surveillance camera captured the suspect riding an electric bicycle through the massive Central Park at 6:48 a.m., which spans 843 acres.
“It’s a big park and a complicated terrain,” said Miller.
The suspect allegedly exited the park within minutes. After reviewing security footage, police believe he left via the West 77th Street exit – this time without the “distinctive gray backpack” seen on him during the shooting.
At 7 a.m., a man resembling the suspect was seen riding a bike on West 85th Street, as shown by private surveillance footage. Police explained that they reviewed the video and believed the attacker was visible in it.
“A face isn’t a fingerprint. It’s not DNA. Contrary to popular belief, facial recognition software doesn’t always match a face to a suspect’s identity. Most Americans think police have pictures of everyone in the U.S. That’s simply not true. If he’s not a New York resident and hasn’t been arrested before, it’s highly likely his face isn’t in their criminal database or photo repository,” said Donnie Scott, CEO of IDEMIA Group, which specializes in facial recognition technology.
Police are also investigating a phone found in an alley where the suspect ran. However, extracting data from the phone can be extremely challenging, depending on the model and operating system.
Some have portrayed the attacker as someone delivering justice against a healthcare system criticized for valuing profit over patients’ lives. U.S. media suggest that many people might be reluctant to report him. A significant portion of U.S. society is deeply sensitive to malpractices involving health insurance companies. Because of his boyish smile, the assassin is being compared on social media to Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal and is even being called a modern Robin Hood.
“The evidence suggests the attacker saw himself as a kind of superhero seeking justice for the wronged and oppressed,” said Bryanna Fox, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida.
Words written on the bullet and casing correspond to a popular phrase about the insurance industry: “Delay, deny, defend.” The public’s sympathy for the assassin is evident in one striking statistic. A post by UnitedHealthcare mourning Thompson’s death received over 82.000 reactions as of Friday; however, 76.000 of those were laughing emojis.
