What to know about UnitedHealthcare CEO’s fatal shooting

The chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest insurers, was killed Wednesday in Midtown Manhattan in what police described as a targeted attack by a shooter outside a hotel where the company was holding a conference.

The shooter fled on foot down an alley and was last seen on an electric bike heading toward Central Park. The New York Police Department said the attack on Brian Thompson was planned, but the motive was not yet clear.

Here’s what you need to know:

Police said Thompson was on his way to the company’s annual investor conference at the Hilton Midtown in New York City around 6:45 a.m. when a person approached him and shot him several times.

Thompson was alone at the time and had no security, police said.

Officers found Thompson on the ground outside the hotel with gunshot wounds to his back and right calf, according to Joseph Kenny, the police department’s chief of detectives. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital at 7:12 a.m.

Kenny said the shooter appeared to be a man who wore a black mask, black and white sneakers and a “very distinctive” gray backpack.

He arrived outside the hotel about five minutes before Thompson arrived, waiting near the building and ignoring others before approaching Thompson from behind.

He began shooting at Thompson, hitting him in the back. The gun then malfunctioned, but he was able to quickly fix the problem and continue shooting, Kenny said.

“Watching the video, it appears that he is very proficient in handling firearms because he was able to resolve the malfunctions quite quickly,” Kenny said.

The shooter ran into an alley near the hotel and then got on an electric bike and took it into Central Park.

Kenny said police found a cellphone in the alley, but it was unclear if it belonged to the shooter.

Thompson was the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the insurance arm of parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc.

He had been with the Minnetonka, Minn.-based company for two decades and led its insurance division since 2021. He was one of the company’s highest-paid executives, with annual compensation of $10.2 million dollars.

Thompson kept a low profileUnitedHealth Group Inc. CEO Andrew Witty taking on a more public-facing role, including testifying before Congress.

Thompson began his career as a certified public accountant and graduated from the University of Iowa. He lived in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove.

His wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that her husband said some people had threatened him. She didn’t have details, but suggested it may have been insurance coverage issues.

Maple Grove Police Chief Eric Werner said his department has not received any reports of threats against the executive branch.