What we know about New York City shooting of UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson
Police in New York City are searching for the gunman who killed the chief executive of America’s biggest health insurance provider outside a Manhattan hotel on Wednesday.
Brian Thompson, 50, was the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare – the fourth-largest public company in the United States.
He was targeted by what experts claim is a “seasoned, professional killer”, who shot him as he was walking into the hotel where his company was holding an investors’ conference.
What happened?
The shooting happened at 6.45am on Wednesday – just before sunrise.
Brian Thompson was in New York City for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investors conference, which was due to start at 8am.
As he walked towards the entrance of the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue, CCTV footage shows a gunman emerging from two parked cars behind him.
A map shows the scene of the shooting outside the Hilton hotel
Pic: Reuters
The suspect draws his weapon and fires at least three times at close range – around 15ft (4.6m) away from him on the pavement.
Mr Thompson is shot in the back and the calf and falls to the ground.
The weapon, believed to have been fitted with a 9mm silencer, appears to jam, at which point the shooter fixes the problem and fires again.
CCTV shows the suspect firing his weapon. Pic: NYPD/Reuters
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There was at least one bystander present, but the gunman does not approach them, instead crossing the street and disappearing down an alleyway on the other side of the road.
Wanted posters show CCTV pictures of him on an electric bike, which police say he fled the scene on and was last seen riding in nearby Central Park.
CCTV shows the suspect fleeing on an e-bike. Pic: NYPD/Reuters
Emergency services later arrived at the scene, which is near the Rockefeller Center, where the famous annual Christmas lights switch-on took place hours after.
The UnitedHealthcare conference started on time as planned – but an hour later the chief executive of the firm’s wider group Andrew Whitty appeared on stage to say it was being cancelled.
Police officers guard the crime scene outside the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue. Pic: Reuters
Who was Brian Thompson?
Brian Thompson joined UnitedHealthcare from an accountancy firm in 2004 and was named chief executive officer in April 2021. He previously served as chief executive of the firm’s government programmes business.
UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the US and manages insurance for employers and state and federally-funded programmes.
It is the fourth largest public company in the country – behind Walmart, Amazon, and Apple.
Brian Thompson. Pic: UnitedHealth Group/AP
He lived in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is around a 20-minute drive from the company headquarters.
He studied at the University of Iowa – and was married with two children.
His wife Paulette Thompson told NBC News that he had said “there were some people that had been threatening him” but gave no further details.
The police chief of the suburb where Mr Thompson lived, Eric Werner, said his department had received no reports of threats towards him.
His sister-in-law Elena Reveiz, told the New York Times: “He was a good person and I am so sad.”
UnitedHealthcare described him in its statement as a “highly respected colleague” and a “friend to all who worked with him”.
Mr Thompson’s wife said he had been receiving threats. Pic: UnitedHealthcare/AP
What do we know about the suspect?
Police officials are describing the shooting as a “premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack” and “not a random act of violence”.
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch said the killer appeared to have been “lying in wait for several minutes” for Mr Thompson to approach the hotel.
The 911 call describes him as around 5ft 10in, wearing all black, his face covered by a mask, and carrying a grey backpack.
Pic: NYPD
Pic: NYPD
Former FBI special agent Terry Rankhorn told Sky News his behaviour showed he was “clearly a seasoned, professional killer”.
“He paces his target. He doesn’t run up, like an inexperienced, emotional, amateur killer. He draws his weapon and takes careful aim,” he said.
Pic: NYPD
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Mr Rankhorn said the gun is likely to have malfunctioned due to the mismatch between the 9mm silencer used and what was likely subsonic ammunition.
“The ill-fitted suppressor on the weapon can cause a malfunction,” he said. “But he knew exactly how to deal with it.”
Bullets on the pavement at the scene of the crime. Pic: AP
Shell casings were found at the scene. Pic: Reuters
Mr Rankhorn said it is also noteworthy that the suspect spotted a bystander and was unfazed by them.
“He evaluates them to see if they’re any threat to him… determines they’re just trying to flee the scene, and returns focus to his target,” he said.
Crime scene investigators found several 9mm shell casings outside the hotel – and a mobile phone in the alleyway the gunman fled through.
The scene after Brian Thompson was fatally shot in New York. Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
They also searched Mr Thompson’s hotel room, interviewed his colleagues, and scoured his social media.
Mr Rankin told Sky News any motive is “purely speculation” at this early stage. But he adds that possibilities include Mr Thompson being involved in “white collar crime” whereby confederates may have feared him going to the police, or an “insider stock trading scandal”.
Police have given no indication of the gunman’s motive so far. They are offering a $10,000 (£7,860) reward for information.
Authorities have identified the 16 people killed in a massive blast at a munitions factory in rural Tennessee.
They were killed in an explosion on Friday at an Accurate Energetic Systems facility around 60 miles southwest of Nashville. The company researches and supplies explosives for the military.
Investigators are still working to discover the cause of the explosion.
A satellite image showing the plant before the explosion, in April 2021. Pic: Vantor/Reuters
A satellite image showing the aftermath of the blast. Pic: Vantor/Reuters
Those killed were: Jason Adams, Erick Anderson, Billy Baker, Adam Boatman, Christopher Clark, Mindy Clifton, James Cook, Reyna Gillahan, LaTeisha Mays, Jeremy Moore, Melinda Rainey, Melissa Stanford, Trenton Stewart, Rachel Woodall, Steven Wright and Donald Yowell.
Reyna Gillahan. Pic: Facebook
Donald Yowell. Pic: Facebook
At a news conference, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said people in the community probably at least knew relatives of the victims killed in the explosion.
“It’s just small county, rural America, where everybody knows each other and everybody’s gonna take care of each other,” he said.
A candlelit vigil was held to honour the victims. Pic: AP
Authorities said there were no survivors of the blast, which left twisted and burning metal in its wake.
They said they were working to clear the area of hazards, including explosives, and identify remains.
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Once the area is clear they can begin investigating what caused the explosion, said Matthew Belew, acting special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
He said some of the relevant evidence was spread out over miles.
“It’s almost like putting a puzzle back together,” he added.
“We have worked closely with AES to look at pictures, look at blueprints, any of the identifying things that were in the building. And then we slowly methodically start to put some of that stuff together.”
US
Britain has been playing a role behind the scenes of Trump’s deal between Israel and Hamas | Beth Rigby
Sir Keir Starmer will join world leaders at a historic summit in Egypt today – to witness the signing of the Gaza peace plan to end two years of conflict, bloodshed and suffering that has cost tens of thousands of lives and turned Gaza into a wasteland.
Travelling over to Egypt, flanked by his national security adviser Jonathan Powell, the prime minister told me it was a “massive moment” and one that is genuinely historic.
US President Donald Trump moved decisively last week to end this bloody war, pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas into a ceasefire as part of his 20-point peace plan.
Pic: AP
In the flurry of the following 48 hours, Sir Keir and another 20 or so leaders were invited to Egypt to bear witness to the signing of this deal, with many of them deserving some credit for the effort they made to bring this deal around – not least the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, who pressed Hamas to sign up to this deal.
Today, the remaining 20 living hostages are finally set to be released, along with the bodies of another 28 who were either killed or died in captivity, and aid is due to flow back into a starving Gaza.
Some 1,200 Israelis were killed on 7 October 2023, with another 250 taken hostage. In the subsequent war, most of Gaza’s two million population has been displaced. More than 67,000 Gazans have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
Then, the signing ceremony is due to take place this afternoon in Sharm el Sheikh. It will be a momentous moment after a long and bloody war.
But it is only just the beginning of a long process to rebuild Gaza and try to secure a lasting peace in the region.
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Humanitarian aid rolls into Gaza
The immediate focus for the UK and other nations will be to get aid into Gaza, with the UK committing £20m for water, sanitation and hygiene services for Gazans.
But the focus for the UK and other European allies is what happens after the hostages are released and Israel withdraws its troops.
What happens next is a much bigger and more complicated task: rebuilding Gaza; turning it into a terrorist-free zone; governing Gaza – the current plan is for a temporary apolitical committee; creating an international stabilisation force and all the tensions that could bring about – which troops each side would allow in; a commitment for Israel not to occupy or annex Gaza, even as Netanyahu makes plain his opposition to that plan.
The scale of the challenge is matched by the scale of devastation caused by this brutal war.
The prime minister will set out his ambition for the UK to play a leading role in the next phase of the peace plan.
Starmer arrives in Sharm el-Sheikh. Pic: PA
Back home, the UK is hosting a three-day conference on Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.
Last week, France hosted European diplomats and key figures from Middle Eastern countries, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – and later this week, the German chancellor is hoping to organise a conference on the reconstruction of Gaza with the Egyptians.
But in reality, European leaders know the key to phase two remains the key to phase one, and that’s Donald Trump.
As one UK figure put it to me over the weekend: “There is lots of praise, rightly, for the US president, who got this over the line, but the big challenge for us post-war is implementing the plan. Clearly, Arab partners are concerned the US will lose focus.”
Bridget Phillipson and Mike Huckabee. Pics: Sky/AP
The prime minister knows this and has made a point, at every point, to praise Mr Trump.
His cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson learned that diplomatic lesson the hard way yesterday when she was publicly lambasted by the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for suggesting to my colleague Trevor Phillips that the UK “had played a key role behind the scenes” and failed to mention Mr Trump by name.
“I assure you she is delusional,” tweeted Governor Huckabee. “She can thank @realDonaldTrump anytime just to set the record straight”.
Today, leaders will rightly be praising Mr Trump for securing the breakthrough to stop the fighting and get the remaining hostages home.
People hug next in Hostages Square. Pic: Reuters
But this is only the beginning of a very long journey ahead to push through the rest of the 19-point plan and stop the region from falling back into conflict.
Britain has, I am told, been playing a role behind the scenes. The PM’s national security adviser Mr Powell was in Egypt last week and has been in daily touch with his US counterpart Steve Witkoff, according to government sources. Next week the King of Jordan will come to the UK.
Part of the UK’s task will be to get more involved, with the government and European partners keen to get further European representation on Trump’s temporary governance committee for Gaza, which Tony Blair (who was not recommended or endorsed by the UK) is on and Mr Trump will chair.
The committee will include other heads of states and members, including qualified Palestinians and international experts.
As for the former prime minister’s involvement, there hasn’t been an overt ringing endorsement from the UK government.
It’s helpful to have Mr Blair at the table because he can communicate back to the current government, but equally, as one diplomatic source put it to me: “While a lot of people in the Middle East acknowledge his experience, expertise and contact book, they don’t like him and we need – sooner rather than later – other names included that Gulf partners can get behind.”
Today it will be the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that sign off on the peace plan they directly negotiated, as other Middle Eastern and European leaders, who have flown into Sharm el Sheikh to bear witness, look on.
But in the coming days and weeks, there will need to be a big international effort, led by Mr Trump, not just to secure the peace, but to keep it.
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