- UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel, a source told BI.
- Thompson, 50, was killed in an apparent targeted attack, the law enforcement source said.
- The CEO had spent 20 years as an executive at the healthcare giant.
The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot outside Manhattan’s New York Hilton Midtown hotel in an apparent targeted attack early Wednesday morning, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider.
The New York Police Department did not immediately identify Thompson as the victim of the shooting, saying it hadn’t yet notified his family, but a department spokeswoman told BI that a 50-year-old man was shot in the chest and leg outside 1335 6th Avenue.
When police arrived at the scene, the man was unconscious and unresponsive, the spokeswoman said. Emergency responders rushed him to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The law enforcement source, who is not authorized to speak to the press, told BI the shooting was captured on surveillance footage and shows a hooded gunman dressed in black opening fire on Thompson from behind from about a 20-foot distance as the CEO walked in the direction of the hotel.
The suspect fired multiple shots from a gun equipped with a silencer as the shooter got closer to Thompson before running off, the source told BI.
“He definitely knew where he was going to be,” the source said of the shooter.
No arrests have been made, police said.
UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, did not immediately return a call seeking comment about the shooting, but an “investor day” conference in Manhattan was canceled shortly after reports of the shooting broke.
Thompson, 50, had spent 20 years as an executive at the healthcare giant, and served as CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the health benefits unit, since April 2021.
As CEO, Thompson “will drive continued growth across the global, employer, individual, specialty, and government benefits business while continuing the company’s focus on ensuring access to high-quality, affordable health care,” the company said at the time, announcing his new role as CEO.
Thompson had previously served as CEO of the group’s government programs, running its programs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
