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Messages engraved on the bullet casings by the suspect who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday were “retained 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,” “cancel,” and “defend” were written on the live cartridges and casings left by the killer after the shooting. Only one word was written on each bullet and shell.
“Apparently left on purpose to make a statement,” the detective said Thursday. “It will help determine the motive and ultimately the suspect“.
The words could be derived from the book “Delay. Deny. Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It,” published in 2010 by Jay Feynman. Fox News Digital was unable to reach Feynman or the book’s publisher. , Delden Press, for comment at press time.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO ASSINS BELIEVED LEFT BULLET CASES AT SCENE: REPORT
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is seen in this undated photo provided by UnitedHealth Group. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group)
Thompson’s wife, Pauline, has said her husband has received death threats.
“There were some threats,” Thompson’s wife said NBC News“Basically, I don’t know if the lack of (health care) coverage? I don’t know the details. I just know that he said there were some people who threatened him.”
Alternatively, former Washington homicide detective Ted Williams told Fox News Digital that the message could have been left to “throw off investigators.”
In shocking video obtained by Fox News Digital, Thompson is seen walking down a New York City sidewalk when a masked man in a black hooded jacket and backpack walks up behind him and raises a handgun.
A surveillance image released by the NYPD shows the suspect in the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (NYPD Crimestoppers)
The the perpetrator fired several shots. At one point the gun appeared to jam. After that, the attacker, walking towards the victim, tried to run away, hit the weapon on the side.
An NYPD detective, who asked not to be named, also noted that “the silencer (used by the killer) appears to be one that was made specifically for this incident, which explains the tampering … and the failed re-camera.”
After the shooting, the suspect walked between two vehicles, got on a bicycle, then disappeared into Central Park. The NYPD said.
The scene near the Hilton Manhattan hotel in Midtown, New York, where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
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Investigators hope evidence left behind will help identify him, including a mobile phone found in an alley near the hotel where the shooting took place, as well as a cup in a nearby Starbucks trash can.
“They look at everything and everyone and put together timelines and evidence piece by piece and very methodically,” the detective said. “Hopefully he left DNA.”
Fox News Digital’s Christina Shaw contributed to this report.
