By Anjali Sharma
NEW YORK – The CEO of the largest US health insurance company United Healthcare Brian Thompson on Wednesday was shot dead in a brazen attack outside a mid-town hotel in Manhattan.
Brian Thompson, 50 years old who heads UnitedHealthcare was killed in what officials said was a “targeted attack” and the masked assailant escaped on a bicycle.
The incident happened as the city was flooded with tourists due to the holiday season with the lighting of the iconic Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre near the site of the shooting set a few hours later.
Mayor Eric Adams said: “We want to be clear to New Yorkers that this does not appear to be a random act of violence”.
Concern over crime 62 per cent of Americans expressed fears in a survey was a factor in the presidential election.
Media reports said that the assailant was pacing the platform outside the Hilton hotel and shot Thompson from about three metres away.
Mr. Thompson was walking to the hotel where his company was to hold an investors’ conference.
In 2021, Thompson, 50, took over UHC which had a revenue of $281 billion last year, and provides private health insurance as well as offering plans under the government programmes for seniors and the poor.
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