Americans Refuse to Help NYPD Catch UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter

Americans are refusing help the NYPD catch a man suspected of shooting dead the head of America’s biggest health insurance provider in broad daylight in New York City.

On Wednesday last week Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot by a masked man around 6:45 a.m. ET on the street near a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan

Since the shooting, major anger has emerged in online discourse about the current state of healthcare in America.

The gunman fled on foot before riding an electric bicycle north to Central Park. Five days on, the gunman’s name, whereabouts, or motive for the are all still unknown killing.

Police investigators are now appealing to the public for help in locating the perpetrator and on Friday night, the FBI announced that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

The NYPD has also offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information.

Newsweek has reached out to the NYPD via email for comment.

These five-figure rewards have so far not inspired people to come forward with information about the killing. Instead, many people online are being vocal in their refusal to help.

One TikTok user says that the killing, although “horrific” has caused the world to “collectively shrug,” due to the fact so many people are denied healthcare support in the U.S.

Speaking about the killing in a video to his two million followers, another TikTok creator called Danesh, who uses the handle @thatdaneshguy said: “I don’t have to encourage violence. I don’t have to condone violence by any means. But I also don’t have to help.”

Newsweek has reached out to Danesh via social media for comment.

Michael McWhorter, who is known as TizzyEnt on TikTok, said in a video: “I have yet to see anyone online posting, “we gotta find this guy, we gotta get him off the street”.

“I have, however, seen people making an argument doing the “hear me out” thing, talking about how attractive [the killer] is, people calling him Robin Hood, people quite literally making fan art, and I don’t think it’s that difficult to figure out why.

“People every day are denied – for the most ridiculous reasons, sometimes even though they should be given care – in the hopes that they will die before they can actually get the services that they have paid for. So, when a man who is quite literally the face of that was murdered, the nation for the most part seemed to collectively shrug.”

Newsweek has reached out to McWhorter via social media for comment.

One TikTok video, which has been viewed over 1.9 million times, has the text overlay: “Normal people with empathy finding out about the UHC [UnitedHealthcare] CEO.”

In it the TikTok user Kalil Diaz responds to the news of the crime, and says, “Oh my god, is he okay?” before clarifying: “No, I’m not talking about the CEO. I’m talking about the gunman, like is he alright? Has he fled the country? Is he okay? Does he need food, water?”

Newsweek has reached out to Diaz via email for comment.

In another video, the creator Nikitadumptruck said: “The UnitedHealthcare CEO dying was tragic and horrible.

“Let’s take a look at some of the other horrible things that have happened to people,” she says, before going on to reference a number of lawsuits and scandals related to UnitedHealthcare.

The creator referenced a November 2023 lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare where a claim was made that the company deployed an AI tool developed by NaviHealth (itself an arm of the company’s health services business, Optum) to deny care to elderly Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries.

The NaviHealth tool had a known 90 percent error rate, according to the initial lawsuit.

Newsweek has reached out to UnitedHealthcare via email for comment.

At the end of the video, the content creators says: “It is morally wrong to celebrate the death of someone.

“But we also have a moral responsibility with our one life on this earth to look out for each other and to care for each other.”

Newsweek has reached out to Nikitadumptruck via email for comment.

A private funeral for Thompson was set to be held on Monday, a source told NBC News.

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