UnitedHealthcare CEO killed in 'brazen, targeted' hit

What happened

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down early Wednesday outside the Manhattan hotel where the health insurance behemoth was holding its annual investor conference. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the shooting a "brazen, targeted attack."

Who said what

The gunman, captured on video wearing a face mask and hooded jacket, "appeared to wait for his intended target" for five minutes before stepping out from behind a car at 6:44 a.m. and firing at least three shots at Thompson, Tisch said. Judging by how he cleared a brief gun jam in the middle of shooting, the killer appeared "proficient in the use of firearms," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. The gunman fled on a bike and was last seen entering Central Park, a few blocks from the murder scene.

Police were conducting a massive search for the shooter and for clues to his motive. Thompson, 50, had "recently received several threats," The New York Times said, though "their source and precise nature was unclear." Thompson's wife, Paulette, told NBC News the threats may have been tied to "lack of coverage," but she didn't "know details." People in Thompson's "much-reviled industry" are "routinely inundated with lawsuits and complaints" from customers "enraged" about "denied medical coverage," The Wall Street Journal said. Shell casings at the scene were marked with the words "deny," "defend" and "depose," ABC News said, citing police sources.

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What next?

New York has cameras everywhere and "investigatory capabilities" far "beyond most municipalities," Brittney Blair, a security expert at K2 Integrity, said to the Times. There's "no magic button" to find the culprit, but "of all the places in this country to commit a crime like this, Manhattan would be the dead last location on my list."