The words "delay" and "depose" were written on a shell casing and a live round recovered in front of the New York Hilton Midtown, where UnitedHealth Group Inc. insurance chief Brian Thompson was fatally shot on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.
The inscriptions loosely echo the book title Delay, Deny, Defend, which describes tactics allegedly used by insurers to deny claims. Law enforcement officials may look at whether it suggests a potential motive - anger against health insurers.
"That is really unusual," said Joseph Giacalone, a former New York Police Department sergeant who's now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "I have never seen it, and I spent a long time working investigations."
Thompson, 50, was shot in the back and leg around 6.45am outside of the New York Hilton Midtown, where the largest US health insurer was hosting its investor day. The shooting - captured on security video - showed the attacker waiting for Thompson upon his arrival at the hotel. The perpetrator approached the executive from behind and shot him multiple times before leaving by foot and then riding an electric bike toward Central Park. A cellphone was recovered nearby as well as the casings.
UnitedHealth was among a group of companies slammed in a Senate report earlier this year for using automated tools to increase claim denials. While the words could suggest that the shooting might be motivated by some kind of insurance denial, investigators also have to consider the words on the shell casing may be a distraction designed to divert from the true motive, Giacalone said.
"They are going to take everything seriously but have to have an open mind that this could be a potential ruse," he said.
