During a late morning press conference the NYPD described the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as an apparent “brazen targeted attack.”
Breitbart News reported that 50-year-old Thompson was shot and killed outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan just after 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny noted that officers arrived on scene at 6:48 a.m., after which Thompson was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m.
Kenny noted that surveillance video showed Thompson walking by himself from his hotel toward the Hilton at 6:40 a.m. The attacker, who was wearing a “distinctive gray backpack,” black face mask, light brown jacket, and black and white sneakers, “[ignored] numerous other pedestrians,” approached Thompson from behind and shot him in the back.
The attacker fired more than once–striking Thompson more than once–and was able to clear jams in the gun as he was firing. The attacker’s ability to clear jams in the gun leads Kenny to believe the attacker was “proficient in the use of firearms.”
The attacker fled the scene on an E‑City bike and was last seen “riding into Central Park at Central Drive.”
Kenny said NYPD believes Thompson was “specifically targeted” but they do not know why.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: [email protected].