The investigation into the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO took another bizarre twist Saturday as it was reported that a backpack linked to the alleged killer contained only two items: A jacket and Monopoly money.
The suspect’s backpack was found in Central Park on Friday — two days after the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel — and while police haven’t revealed what was found, ABC News reports that a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and play money from the board game Monopoly — but not the firearm used in the killing — were inside of it.
The New York Police Department also released a new image of the hooded suspect with his mouth covered by a face mask that was taken inside a taxi. While the NYPD has not yet identified the suspect, authorities believe they are “making good progress,” sources close to the investigation told ABC News.
Authorities previously called the murder Thompson a “pre-planned, targeted attack.” With a search still underway for the unidentified gunman who fled the scene after firing multiple bullets into Thompson in the early hours of Wednesday, Dec. 4, additional details continue to emerge from investigations into the incident.
Thompson, 50, joined UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and cycled through a number of roles before being named UnitedHealthcare CEO in April 2021. He was struck in the back and leg while walking outside of a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan at around 6:45 a.m. Video footage of the attack shows the shooter approaching Thompson from behind after “lying in wait for several minutes,” according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Thompson was pronounced dead at a nearby Mount Sinai hospital.
At the scene of the shooting, law enforcement officials recovered multiple shell casings that were printed with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.” A number of social media users connected the words to Jay M. Feinman’s Delay, Deny, Defend. The book, published in 2010, explores how and why “insurance companies delay payment of justified claims, deny payment altogether, and defend their actions by forcing claimants to enter litigation,” according to a synopsis.
In the aftermath of Thompson’s killing, certain pockets of social media met his death with little sympathy, while others thirsted over the alleged suspect and the one photo of him maskless and smiling.