Healthcare CEO shot in US had received threats from angry customers, wife says

A manhunt is underway after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead yesterday morning in what cops described as a “brazen targeted attack” outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

- JUSTIN ROHRLICH

Thompson’s wife said her husband had recently received threats from angry customers over complaints she believed may have had to do with “a lack of coverage”.

“I don’t know details,” Paulette Thompson told NBC News. “I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”

The unnamed suspect was lying in wait for Thompson, 50, then approached him from behind and opened fire, hitting him in the back and right calf, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.

The alleged shooter, a white male dressed entirely in black, fled on a Citibike e-bike following the shocking homicide and was last spotted in Central Park, Mr Kenny said, noting that “a cellphone was recovered,” and that Citibikes, which require a debit card or credit card to rent, are equipped with GPS devices.

Thompson’s killing was “not a random act of violence,” Mr Kenny said. The suspect, who was not a guest at the Hilton, was seen walking alone to the soon-to-be crime scene about five minutes before Thompson arrived. The suspect then stepped out from behind a car and gunned Thompson down, according to police.