# UnitedHealthcare CEO fatally shot in Manhattan \[breaking news: 2024-12-04\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news\ **Created:** [December 4, 2024, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159 "2024-12-04T16:11:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/283 "2024-12-06T04:15:10Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > By any reasonable definition as far as this thread goes, a professional means a hitman (of any gender) who does this for a living. I’m not a professional baker because my mom paid me to make a cake one time. But you fuck _one_ goat… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/284 "2024-12-06T04:35:09Z")
> **[UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting latest: Gunman allegedly flashed smile while...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-piece-together-unitedhealthcare-ceo-085034762.html)** > > Police appear to be closing in on an identity of the man suspected of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan. > Police believe the shooter used a B&T Station Six, known in Great Britain as a Welrod pistol, according to police sources. The gun doesn’t have a silencer but does have a long barrel that enables the 9 mm to fire a nearly silent shot. The gun requires manually cycling ammunition from the magazine. > > The weapon is not easily attainable so investigators have been running down all recent purchases, according to police sources. NYPD detectives arrived Thursday at a gun shop in Connecticut that sold a weapon of the same type, sources said. Flirting with a hostel worker, leaving behind a candy wrapper and a water bottle (and the cell phone), using a very unusual weapon… Not very professional. ETA: The pistol appears to cost around $2,000. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/285 "2024-12-06T04:35:24Z")
Over in this thread, @Loach mentions that there are an abnormally large number of unidentified drones flying over New Jersey. Sounds like they might think they know where the killer is. > [@Drones over New Jersey](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drones-over-new-jersey/1011243/): > > The story around here has been the sighting of multiple large drones over the state. The FBI is involved. The FAA is involved. Probably the Secret Service because of Trump International. So far no explanations. Tonight my local Facebook pages have been filled with new videos. Apparently the aliens have been very busy tonight. Yesterday it came out that a medevac helicopter couldn’t land for a patient because of drone activity. These don’t appear to be little quadcopters that private citizens are… ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/286 "2024-12-06T04:38:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The gun requires manually cycling ammunition from the magazine. Perhaps that means that the gun wasn’t jamming - he was simply operating the (bolt?). I’ve never even heard of this model of gun before, though - seems like an unusual weapon that someone would have to seek out if it wasn’t a family heirloom. Maybe there’s some significance to that. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/287 "2024-12-06T04:42:24Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Pretty sure Scott’s crimes were with a different, and unrelated, health care company Who is this Scott? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/288 "2024-12-06T04:43:15Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Who is this Scott Rick Scott, Republican senator (and former governor) from Florida. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/289 "2024-12-06T04:47:48Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Rick Scott, Republican senator (and former governor) from Florida. Thanks. I checked but didn’t see a Scott mentioned anywhere else in the thread. Now I’m curious. Where was it mentioned? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/290 "2024-12-06T05:21:28Z")
Frankly I’m puzzled why we are discussing Rick Scott and his healthcare career in a breaking news thread that has nothing to do with him. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/291 "2024-12-06T05:23:34Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Frankly I’m puzzled why we are discussing Rick Scott I went back through the thread; @DavidNRockies mentioned him originally, as far as I can tell, but I can’t find an earlier post to which they would have been responding. (I suppose it’s possible that the post to which they were responding was edited, removing mention of Scott.) ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/292 "2024-12-06T05:31:22Z")
[This is an article](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/nyregion/brian-thompson-uhc-shooting-suspect-search.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fU4.iuAt.g_JH8PxpoRLu&smid=url-share) updating the situation as it currently stands (GIFT LINK). A number of details about his travel and stay at the hostel in NYC can be found here. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/293 "2024-12-06T05:32:35Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Frankly I’m puzzled why we are discussing Rick Scott and his healthcare career in a breaking news thread that has nothing to do with him. I too am puzzled. It’s not my forum, but I happen to be here, and well, it’s puzzling, isn’t it? So let’s not continue, to avoid further mod puzzlement. Except for puzzlegal, who is exactly the right amount of puzzled. (Not directed @ you, Kolak. I just happen to agree.) ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/294 "2024-12-06T05:35:40Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/295 "2024-12-06T06:12:43Z")
Not surprisingly, this book is now impossible to find. Something occurred to me early today: It’s long been known that UHC was atrocious at paying claims. Did they reliably pay their own employees? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/296 "2024-12-06T06:23:30Z")
Rick Scott was involved in some pretty serious Medicare fraud, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. I haven’t seen anything here about the report on CNN that the alleged gunman first entered NYC on a bus about 10 days ago. I don’t know how anyone could know that unless TPTB knows who he is, but aren’t ready to release his name yet. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/297 "2024-12-06T06:27:18Z")
Check out the gift link I shared above. Pretty sure it mentions the gunman arrived by bus earlier than I would have expected. And some other interesting things. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/298 "2024-12-06T07:23:43Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Not surprisingly, this book is now impossible to find. There’s a Kindle version. Anyone can read it ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/299 "2024-12-06T07:26:43Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I don’t know how anyone could know that unless TPTB knows who he is, but aren’t ready to release his name yet. It’s mentioned that he used a fake ID to check into the hostel. Possibly he got on the Greyhound the same way - I haven’t been on one in over 20 years, but as I recall it’s hardly going through the TSA. He’s also been paying cash for everything, so no debit card to trace. The narrative seems to be that he arrived in New York on November 24th via Greyhound from somewhere between there and Atlanta, and checked into the hostel on the Upper West Side. He checked out on the 29th but then checked back in the next day. Sometime before Wednesday he acquired an e-bike and staged it in the alley across the street from Thompson’s hotel, then on the morning he took the subway to the hotel, bought water and snack bars at Starbucks, then waited outside the hotel until Thompson showed up, when he shot him, then fled into Central Park on the bike and may have been seen exiting at 77th, but has not been seen since. There’s every possibility that he’s left New York by now. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/300 "2024-12-06T07:44:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > Police believe the shooter used a B&T Station Six, known in Great Britain as a Welrod pistol, according to police sources. The gun doesn’t have a silencer but does have a long barrel that enables the 9 mm to fire a nearly silent shot. The gun requires manually cycling ammunition from the magazine. > > > > The weapon is not easily attainable so investigators have been running down all recent purchases, according to police sources. NYPD detectives arrived Thursday at a gun shop in Connecticut that sold a weapon of the same type, sources said. > > Flirting with a hostel worker, leaving behind a candy wrapper and a water bottle (and the cell phone), using a very unusual weapon… Not very professional. > > ETA: The pistol appears to cost around $2,000. This is nonsense. First of all, while the [Brügger & Thomet Station SIX-9](https://otbfirearms.com/b-t-brugger-thomet-station-six-9-9mm/) is a design based on the [WWII era Welrod](https://www.thearmorylife.com/welrod-pistol/) (which was used by British Special Operations Executive and US Office of Special Services operatives, as well as being provided to resistance groups) they are not the same gun. Second, the statement that “[t]he gun doesn’t have a silencer but does have a long barrel that enables the 9 mm to fire a nearly silent shot“ is completely wrong; the Welrod and B&T Station SIX-9 have integrally suppressed barrels (that is, the suppressor is built into the barrel), which are about just about an inch or two longer than a full-sized duty weapon like a 1911 or a Beretta 92F. Third, the Welrod and B&T Station SIX-9 have a manual bolt action which requires the user to grab the knurled knob on the back of the pistol, rotate it and pull it back to eject the spent casing, and then push it forward and rotate back to load the next cartridge into the chamber and lock the bolt for firing. [Here is a short video of someone operating the Welrod MkII.](https://youtu.be/LoWE8wiBtgU?si=94V6kS8kLqITRc7A). [Here is a longer video of someone comparing the Welrod to the B&T VP9, which is a more sophisticated version of the Station SIX-9.](https://youtu.be/o7tP9s4mm5I?si=nydYM46-vVoTHq7x) It is quite apparent that [the weapon wielded by this assassin](https://youtu.be/wtzsHMjhQr4?si=WOR7f_GN3fyk572b) (warning, this link is to a video that shows just the first shot but stops before a reaction by Thompson) was a conventional autoloading striker-fired pistol (I would guess a Glock or a Springfield XD but the footage is too blurry to make out specific details) with a non-integral suppressor. Full surveillance video of the shooting shows the shooter performing a standard “tap/rack/bang” drill in response to the failure to cycle, which indicates that he is a reasonably well trained shooter but not the characteristic action of rotating the bolt. This news article gets nearly everything about the pistol so completely wrong that they couldn’t fuck it up more if they’d tried, although I will award them a single point for the correct use of the term ‘magazine’ instead of ‘clip’. I have handled (but not fired) the B&T VP9 including cycling the action and the motion is quite distinct from racking the slide on a standard autoloading pistol. And although the shooter does know how to fire the gun this clearly isn’t a trained professional (notwithstanding that ‘professional assassin for hire’ is largely a made up Hollywood trope) and is likely someone with a little bit of firearm experience whose ‘assassin training’ is strictly from what they have seen on movies and tv. It is clear that the suppressor is probably some homemade piece of junk not properly engineered to allow the gun to cycle normally, the shooter picked a location that is not only well-lit and where there are people around but is also in plain view of a surveillance camera, and frankly selected a weapon far larger and more powerful than needed for an unsuspecting rear shot, then failed to develop a good E&E plan, notwithstanding leaving evidence behind (unless that was some clever ploy to misdirect an investigation, but I highly doubt this guy was that clever). This is almost certainly a disgruntled employee or someone harmed by UHC’s venal policies, not some kind of professional ‘hit’ by a trained assassin, again insofar as such a fictitious creature is even available for hire outside of the service of clandestine agencies. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/301 "2024-12-06T08:45:06Z")
I like the investigators on this case and can see how they’re experts in identifying the guy. They remind me of those who found the Tamerlans after the Boston Marathon bombings. I got to see a netflix documentary of those investigators and they were inspirational. They said they worked around the clock for days, not going home for anything, willful and determined to get them in custody. You may have to pardon my passion here as my best friend from childhood in town is a police investigator. She says they don’t sleep sometimes when they’re on a case - I can’t help but greatly admire that. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159/302 "2024-12-06T10:07:13Z")
> [@Eric1](#): > > I like the investigators on this case and can see how they’re experts in identifying the guy. My issue here is I doubt the NYPD/law enforcement go to anywhere near these lengths to solve other homicides in New York City. There were 386 homicides in NYC in 2023. Did any receive anywhere near this level of effort to solve? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unitedhealthcare-ceo-fatally-shot-in-manhattan-breaking-news-2024-12-04/1011159.md?page=16)