Experts in the field of forensic psychology said the assassin who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was likely motivated by “very personal anger,” Newsweek reported on Saturday.
Thompson was shot and killed just prior to 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday outside of the New York Hilton Midtown. New York Police Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said he was shot once in the right calf and in the back. He was declared dead 30 minutes later in what authorities say was a “brazen, targeted” and “premeditated” assassination.
As the manhunt for the unidentified man reaches its fourth day, authorities now believe he fled Manhattan by taking a taxi to the Port Authority facility at 178th Street and then boarded a bus out of New York City. Shells were found at the crime scene with the words “delay, deny, defend” etched in the casing. The words mimic the way some attorneys describe how insurers allegedly deny services and payment and is the title of a 2010 book by Jay Feinman, a professor emeritus at Rutgers Law School that is highly critical of the industry.
Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer spoke to the outlet and said the attack was “calculated" and noted how the shells with engraved messages illustrate a “nonchalant attitude" leading her to believe "this is very personal anger over a loss of a loved one, perhaps due to an insurance denial."
The gunman appeared to have "little concern about more fully covering his tracks," she said. "The fact he stayed with others at a hostel — dropping the phone, and his very poor marksmanship." Yet she conceded that the attack was "very well planned," she said. "He was successful in his mission, after all. Mr. Thompson is deceased."
Former forensic psychiatrist Carole Liberman told Newsweek that the evidence points to a "disgruntled loved one of a patient who died because they were denied coverage by United Healthcare." The gunman "was trying to send a message by leaving the shell casings behind," she said. The words refer "to what insurance companies do to save money instead of saving lives. A loved one would want to be sure this message got out."
Lieberman added that if the gunman was hired, he may have been hired by the family of a patient denied coverage. "It could have been part of the deal for the hitman to send a message by leaving the shell casings behind," she said.
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