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The killer arrived first. He stood in the cold predawn gloom outside the New York Hilton Midtown and waited. Even at that early hour, people passed by. He ignored them. They ignored him. At 6:44 a.m., he saw his man. Brian Thompson, 50, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare — the leader of one of the country’s largest companies — walking past in a blue suit toward the entrance to the Hilton. The killer popped out from behind a car and raised a pistol fitted with a long silencer. What followed was what the police would call a bold assassination, which shook the insurance industry and sent a jolt through an area packed with holiday tourists. By nightfall, a sprawling manhunt with police officers, dogs and drones spread citywide, bearing down on surveillance videos, a dropped cellphone and even Citi Bike data in search of the killer. (Wilson, Marcius, Cramer and Rennison, 12/4)

Police are combing through surveillance video and examining clues the gunman may have left while fleeing the scene. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found on the shell casings discovered at the scene of the shooting, ABC News reported, citing police sources. Authorities have not found the gunman’s bike or weapon. They have, however, found a phone and bottle of water that may have been dropped by the suspect when he fled through the alley. (Tsui, Miller and Gingras, 12/5)

UnitedHealth Group's investor day turned from an ordinary corporate meeting in a midtown Manhattan hotel to a scene of stunned grief quicker than the health insurer could even react. "It was mid-presentation when everyone began to get the headlines,” said Michael Ha, a health-care analyst at Baird who sat among roughly 275 attendees at the Wednesday event when news alerts started pinging attendees’ mobile phones. "We were all looking around, we were all shocked and confused." (Tozzi, Miller, Mufarech and Voreacos, 12/4)

Through statements, emails and social media posts, rival healthcare companies, trade associations, analysts, policymakers, government officials and other industry leaders have expressed their shock and sadness upon hearing the news. (Berryman, 12/4)

Brian Thompson, the health-insurance executive who was fatally shot in New York City on Wednesday, was an ambitious but affable leader who rose from small-town Iowa roots to run the largest health insurer in the U.S. Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two who was known to friends and colleagues as B.T., oversaw UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare insurance arm, which had revenue of $281 billion last year and provides health coverage for more than 50 million people. (Mathews and Bauerlein, 12/4)

Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S. but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get health care. At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company’s shift to “value-based care,” paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick. ... Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticized for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. (Geller and Murphy, 12/4)

During Mr. Thompson’s tenure as chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the company’s profits rose, with earnings from operations topping $16 billion in 2023 from $12 billion in 2021. Mr. Thompson received a total compensation package last year of $10.2 million, a combination of $1 million in base pay and cash and stock grants. He oversaw significant growth in one of the company’s key businesses, the sale of private insurance plans under Medicare Advantage, a program mainly for those 65 and older that receives federal funds and now covers roughly half of the 61 million people signing up. (Abelson, 12/4)

The killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of the insurance division of UnitedHealth Group, provided a window into the vitriol that prominent health care leaders have been facing. Workers across health care face safety risks. People employed in the industry are about five times more likely than people in other private industries to experience workplace violence, according to federal data. (Merelli and Wosen, 12/5)