Messages etched on bullet casings by the suspect Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, murdered Wednesday were “left to make a statement,” a New York Police Department detective told Fox News Digital.
Police sources told the New York Post that the words “deny,” “impeach” and “defend” were written on the bullets and casings left by the killer after the shooting. Only one word was written on each bullet and casing.
“Clearly deliberately left to make a statement,” the detective said Thursday. ‘This will help identify a motive and ultimately the suspect.”
The words could be derived from “Delay. Deny. Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It,” a book published by Jay Feinman in 2010. Fox News Digital was unable to identify Feinman or the publisher. book not reachable, Delden Press, for comment at time of going to press.
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This undated photo from UnitedHealth Group shows Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group)
Thompson’s wife, Pauline, has said her husband had received death threats.
“There had been some threats,” Thompson’s wife said NBC News“Actually, I don’t know, a lack of health care coverage? I don’t know the details. All I know is he said there were people threatening him.”
Alternatively, former Washington DC homicide detective Ted Williams told Fox News Digital that the message could have been left to “throw investigators away.”
In a shocking video obtained by Fox News Digital, Thompson is seen walking through a New York City sidewalk when a masked man wearing a black hooded jacket and a backpack walks up behind him and raises a gun.
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A surveillance image released by the NYPD shows the suspect in the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (NYPD Crime Stoppers)
The The perpetrator fired several shots. At one point the gun seemed to jam. The attacker then appeared to hit the gun on the side as he walked toward the victim, who tried to get away.
The NYPD detective, who asked not to be named, also noted that “the silencer (used by the killer) appears to be one made specifically for this incident, which explains the jamming… and restoring the failed rounds.”
After the shooting, the suspect walked between two vehicles, got on a bicycle and then disappeared into Central Park, the said NYPD.
Scene near the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, NY, where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
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Investigators hope accompanying evidence left behind will help identify him mobile discovered in an alley near the hotel where the shooting occurred, as well as a cup in a trash can at a nearby Starbucks.
“They’re looking at everything and everyone and putting together the timelines and the evidence piece by piece and very methodically,” the detective said. “Hopefully he left behind some DNA.”
Christina Shaw of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
