The UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter's meticulous planning has helped him evade police so far, experts say
The UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter's meticulous planning has helped him evade police so far, experts say
Investigators have not yet publicly identified the gunman who ambushed the 50-year-old insurance executive early Wednesday.
Summary
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in a targeted attack outside a New York Hilton hotel, with investigators describing the killing as meticulously planned.
The gunman fled on foot, then by rental bike, and possibly left the city via bus. Shell casings at the scene had words like “deny” and “defend” inscribed, hinting at a motive linked to Thompson’s work.
Experts suggest the shooter may have military or weapons experience but left key clues, including surveillance footage and discarded items.
Police are analyzing evidence, including DNA, to identify the suspect.
You're viewing a single thread.
You know the rich are shitting their pants over this. It's gotta be like a David and Goliath thing for them. It'd be a great time to start a private security company.
I'm sure Academie (or whatever they're calling Blackwater these days) and the Pinkertons are about to see a lot of new business.
Every time I am reminded that the Pinkertons still exist, I go replay a couple parts of Red Dead Redemption 2...
It'll fade. Unless...
It happens every three months or so. With escalating difficulty. All they way to being found dead alone in their office. Then slow down to every 18 to 36 months. That's when they'd be scared enough to actually change corporate policies.
I think, to enact real systemic change, we would need at least one big heroic deed.
Many small murders of billionaires is great... but something like a bomb in the boardroom, take out a whole C-suite with one blast, that would send the appropriate message to these social murderers.
Either way, we desperately need more heroes.
After writing my comment, I thought of mass shooters tweaking their tactic, and going to different kinds of locations. Like certain board rooms.
It's going to be harder after Wednesday. I'm certain Sodexo, ABM, Cintas, etc are going to scrutinize all the support staff working at every F500 from now on, since that's ideally the closest working class staff to any C-level.
And these C-levels are all gonna get private, armed security baked into their comp packages now - the guys who are actually competent, not John With His Dad's Revolver.
but something like a bomb in the boardroom,
...also risks killing innocent people in adjacent parts of the building.
The janitor and the guys fixing the elevator don't need to become collateral damage.
Innocent people will die no matter what choice you take, it's a trolley problem.
Bomb in the boardroom is a track with a minimal amount of innocent people tied to it.
I don't want to be a downer, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_deed has a long history of doing that and so far it kind of culminated in world war 1.
Certainly the assassination of Ferdinand is a proximate cause of WWI, but there were much greater forces in play. The great powers had giant mechanized armies for the first time, they had plans for the deployment of millions on very strict deadlines, and they had the belief that failure to meet those deadlines would mean national destruction.
I think it is more plausible to argue that propaganda of the deed helped to end the gilded age and usher in the New Deal era, which was America's golden era.
I also act under political desperation. Only under the most optimistic assumptions will electoralism be able to save us from climate change; currently the most likely outcome is human extinction. If the propaganda of the deed has only a 5% chance of saving us from our modern gilded age and the resultant climate-induced end of civilization, then I say it is a chance we must take for we are running out of serious options.
As someone once said: We only have to get lucky once. You have to be lucky every day of your life.
It’s gotta be like a David and Goliath thing for them.
This is the bad timeline though. I'm just waiting to hear that this guy was a pro hired by a C-suite rival. Not some hero of the commons.
Good being done for bad reasons is still good
Good being done for bad reasons is still good
What about bad being done for good reasons? Still bad? (hint: murder)
Idk, the implication it seems your making is that this murder was bad, but I'd argue the result is pretty good here regardless of intentions (though their intentions seem pretty clear given the bullet casings)
Cool motive still murder
No that one's fine actually
That would be kind of a bummer. Still a gain for society
I doubt it would be a gain if someone, who hired someone to kill this guy, would become the next CEO.
There is going to be another either way
As much as I would totally hate to see the average board room turned into a kindergarten classroom: Not gonna happen. Just expect to see more stories about security guards "roughing people up" and more cops told to bring a spare piece and a dime bag to the site of a self defense shooting when one of the roid fiends unloads on someone for looking at them funny.
Elon was building droids to replace workers, but now they are going to have to use them to protect Elon.
Someone will find a way to hack the droid and turn it on the 'protected' individual.
Hopefully the hacker waits until the droids develop a good name for themselves and all the CEOs have one. Then flip them all at once iRobot style.
Politicians in particular should be rethinking about how much they really want to be complete shitheads in public. Perhaps turn down the glee when they enact harmful legislation as well.
I mean yes, but also these execs are more than rich enough to just have a 24/7 guard detail on retainer. They'll be mildly inconvenienced by that tho so bets are they'll step back and put a pazzi as the face of their companies.