We still don’t know the identity of the man suspected of shooting and killing UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson outside of a Manhattan hotel earlier this week in a crime that was caught on video. But we do know what the alleged shooter looks like, thanks to what might be a flirting mistake on his part.
Earlier Thursday, a photo was released of the suspect in the crime, which, unlike other photos that emerged, features the man unmasked. CNN reported another fact about how that photo came out: Per CNN’s Jon Miller, as cited on X by his colleague Kaitlan Collins, law enforcement “spoke to a female employee at the hostel who said, at one point, she asked the then-masked man to lower his mask while flirting with him.”
It was at that point that the photo was taken.
Wow. Per @JohnMillerCNN, among the interviews law enforcement has been conducting, they spoke to a female employee at the hostel who said, at one point, she asked the then-masked man to lower his mask while flirting with him, which is when this photo released by NYPD today was… pic.twitter.com/elHa7r70N7
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 6, 2024
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According to additional reporting by CNN, the suspect arrived in New York by bus from Atlanta and checked into the Upper West Side hostel, where the photo was taken, with a fake ID, which was a bogus New Jersey drivers license. They also believe he arrived in New York City ten days before the shooting took place.
There’s also more about those words that were written on the bullet shell casings that were found at the scene of the shooting. Per CBS News, officials have confirmed that the words were “‘delay,’ ‘deny’ and possibly ‘depose,'” with law enforcement stating that “each word was meticulously written, not etched, onto the casings in Sharpie.”
This is a play on “delay, deny, defend”, a three tiered tactic used by insurance companies to avoid paying out claims.
This is evidence that the motive is in fact what many suspected it to be. https://t.co/F1Xm7jv3va
— Avi Bitterman, MD (@AviBittMD) December 5, 2024
Critics of the insurance industry have often referenced “the three D’s of insurance,” which are “delay,” “deny” and “defend,” which indicates that the shooter was a disgruntled customer, a relative of one, or possibly someone else with a grudge against the insurance industry. “Delay, Deny, Defend” was also the name of a book, critical of the industry, that was published by college professor Jay M. Feinman.
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
