The gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a horror early morning shooting left behind a cryptic message at the scene, it has been revealed.
According to police sources, the three words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” were carved into the live rounds and shell casings found outside the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, where Thompson, 50, was gunned down Wednesday morning.
Police sources confirmed the chilling message to ABC News and the New York Post, adding that three live nine-millimeter rounds and three discharged nine-millimeter shell casings were recovered from the scene.
Several of the bullets were each inscribed with one of the three words, they added.
It is not clear what message the killer may have been trying to leave through the inscriptions, with the motive and the identity of the suspect still a mystery.
The three words bear a striking resemblance to Jay Feinman’s 10 book Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claim and What You Can Do About It.
“Today the name of the game is delay, deny, defend: to improve their profits, insurance companies delay payment of justified claims, deny payment altogether, and defend their actions by forcing claimants to enter litigation,” the book’s blurb reads.
As of Thursday morning, no arrests have been made with the NYPD offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect.
Investigators are now honing in on the killer’s use of an e-bike to flee the scene, as well as a water bottle and cellphone he appears to have dropped as he fled. Investigators also obtained surveillance photos of the suspect’s unmasked face, which the NYPD released publicly on Thursday.
The suspect, who was not a guest at the Hilton, was first allegedly filmed walking outside the Frederick Douglass Houses, a public housing project on the Upper West Side, as early as 5:00 a.m., according to ABC.
He was next captured on security camera at a nearby Starbucks that morning.
A senior police official told CNN that the gunman stopped at the coffee shop at West 56th Street and 6th Avenue and purchased a bottle of water and two energy bars about 30 minutes before Thompson’s death
The water bottle, along with a cellphone, were found near the scene with police believing the gunman may have dropped them while fleeing, CNN reported. Investigators are checking the items for DNA and fingerprints that could lead them to the suspect.
After visiting the coffee shop, the suspect was spotted walking alone to the hotel about five minutes before Thompson arrived and lay in wait for the victim.
The suspect then stepped out from behind a car and gunned Thompson down, hitting him in the back and right calf, at approximately 6:46 a.m., according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Thompson’s killing was “not a random act of violence” but was a “targeted attack,” Kenny said.
After the shooting, the assailant crossed the street near the Hilton Hotel and fled through an alleyway on foot, before hopping on an electric bike at 55th Street, investigators told CNN.
The shooter, a white male dressed entirely in black, then headed north on 6th Avenue towards Central Park, where he was last seen at 6:48 a.m.
Video footage, obtained by CBS News, appears to show the suspect cycling out of the park on West 85th Street just before 7 a.m., according to the sources.
Meanwhile Thompson was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at abut 7:12 a.m.
Kenny told reporters that investigators were looking into the suspect’s use of a Citi Bike, which require a debit or credit card to rent and are equipped with GPS devices.
But, law enforcement officials later told CNN that it now appears the suspect may have taken the subway from the Upper West Side to Midtown that morning.
Surveillance footage captured the unidentified man carrying what appears to be an E-bike battery on the Upper West Side, investigators said – suggesting that a bike was modified.
While investigators are working to identify a motive, experts have said the alleged gunman’s slow, deliberate movements suggest experience with firearms, possibly in law enforcement or the military.
The gun appeared to malfunction with each shot, experts told CNN, yet the suspect managed to clear the jam easily, suggesting prior weapons training.
Thompson’s wife has said that 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.”
Reached by phone, Thompson’s brother Mark told The Independent he was not yet ready to comment on the heartbreaking situation.
Thompson joined parent company UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and became CEO of UnitedHealthcare in 2021.
He was scheduled to speak at an investor conference at the Hilton at 8 a.m., approximately 75 minutes after the attack took place.
The investor conference was subsequently canceled, with a company official telling attendees they were “dealing with a very serious medical situation with one of our team members.”
The UnitedHealth Group lamented Thomspon’s loss in a statement on Wednesday, noting that it was “deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague”.
It added: “We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.”
