What The Rest Of Us Can (Really) Learn From The Healthcare CEO Assassin
Teachable moments in true crime
Early Wednesday morning in mid-town Manhattan, a hooded man calmly walked up behind Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, fired three shots into his back, then fled on a Citi Bike. As of Thursday afternoon, the police appear to have no leads on the assassin’s identity.
While I’m obviously trying to turn a viral news story into a teachable moment here, I want to be clear that it’s inappropriate to make light of this situation. Thompson leaves behind a wife and two sons, and no matter what events led up to the murder, violence should not be used as a resolution to conflict real or perceived.
Still, the fact that someone managed to pull off an assassination of a powerful executive in broad daylight in the middle of New York City, then get away, is capturing people’s imaginations. And part of that is because, aside from doing a murder, he got a few things right.
The Assassin’s Clothing Is Masterfully Non-Discreet
My annoying little brother, Stuart Palley, sent me the below meme earlier today. It’s not at all accurate, but does point to a greater truth: clothing allows the assassin to disappear into the background of Manhattan.
Compare that meme with these captures from security cameras in the area, and you can clearly see that rather than a nice Arc’Teryx soft shell, a backpack that I think is only available on Kickstarter still (I have an early sample of the Peak Designs suggestion stuffed away in my gear closet somewhere), and expensive sneakers, the dude is actually wearing some sort of generic department store jacket, has a scarf or neck tube over his mouth, and is wearing generic Nikes or Adidas.
In short, he’s dressed like any of the thousands of young to middle aged men who commute into midtown every day from the outer boroughs, New Jersey, and upstate to work in unglamorous maintenance, retail, and service positions. None of this would merit a second glance on a street, subway, cafe, or office building. And neither would any item of this clothing draw a remark should it be ditched in a trash can, or left in an alleyway or bathroom.
And while the fancier clothing in the meme would probably have also blended in, it would have failed to achieve the full effect. That’s because dressing working class doesn’t just allow the assassin to blend in, it’s deliberately designed to trigger a psychological effect where more well-to-do people deliberately block people dressed like this out of their minds. This clothing makes the assassin literally invisible to most Manhattanites. Anything he’s wearing could easily have been switched around or taken off to immediately change the assassin’s appearance while he made his escape. But I bet he didn’t even need to do that.
Why is this relevant outside of vigilante fantasies? It illustrates the power of clothing. I remember riding my Fireblade through Kensington on the way between my apartment, university, internship, and the bartending job I held down to pay for all that, back in the early 2000s. Riding past Harrod’s at night was hilarious because my headlights would bounce off the white socks and shoes exclusively worn by Americans from hundreds of yards away. People’s nationality was clearly and immediately apparent, even while riding through traffic, even at night, even without trying to pick them out.
And that’s kinda the opposite of the way I want to exist in places I travel to and through. Simply changing a few items of clothing around can immediately alter your perceived nation of origin, social class, and purpose. This can fundamentally alter your experience, from the way you’re treated by staff at restaurants and hotels, to your ability to strike up conversations and make friends, or the willingness of an official or employee to help you out with something. You don’t need to use this knowledge to disappear, you can also use it to have a better time.
His Escape Vehicle Of Choice Is Also Perfect
After the shooting the assassin rides away on a Citibike. The kind available all over Manhattan, and that also just fade into the background noise. This would have allowed the bike (or maybe even more than one) to be stashed along his chosen escape route, enable him to easily race through traffic without note or detection, and then to ditch the bike without it drawing attention.
This is probably a big part of what’s enable him to evade police detection so far. Wherever that bike was ditched, it’s not something that can really be tracked or reported. Another rider has probably already grabbed it and moved it somewhere else, further masking the guy’s movements immediately after the murder.
When I lived in Brooklyn I rode a bike across the Williamsburg Bridge into Soho every day. Bikes, be they motorized or pedaled, are just kind of a cheat code for city transportation. They turn traffic from an obstacle into an opportunity, erase the need to find parking, and generally flummox people (like cops), who are unable or unwilling to ride them.
This two-wheeled superpower is just as available to you as it is to a criminal. And they work just as well while traveling to unfamiliar places as they do where you live.
The Assassin Is Practiced And Competent With His Tools
My favorite clothing designer, John Barklow from Sitka, likes to say that in an emergency we don’t rise to the occasion, “we fail to the level of our training.”
In the video we can see the assassin fire one shot from what appears to be a suppressed semi-automatic pistol before it jams, then he nonchalantly operates the slide to clear the stuck casing, while continuing to close the distance with Thompson, repeating the operation twice more.
Some on the Internet see this as a sign he’s using an unfamiliar weapon, or one of low quality. I see something else.
Suppressors are still illegal in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and other states in lesser proximity to Manhattan. So, you can’t simply take one to a range there for practice. On a semi-automatic firearm, a suppressor will alter the velocity of gas or mechanical reciprocation on which the gun relies to cycle. Some sources are suggesting the assassin may have additionally employed subsonic rounds, which may further interfere with cycling.
So while there is a chance here that the assassin was unable to practice and tune this specific combination of firearm, suppressor, and ammunition, he still appears to have plenty of time behind a gun. Those jam clearances just look too natural to suggest otherwise.
This is a great example that, even with careful planning, stuff can and does go wrong. In this case it was a firearm during a murder, but for any of us it could be with our vehicles on the road, or with the weather in the backcountry. Learning the skills necessary to competently operate our tools, then practicing those skills, is how you turn what could have been a big deal into a minor inconvenience, if that.
I miss anything?
The maskless photos that the NYPD shared show a completely different outfit and backpack (black backpack vs heather grey, chest pockets vs no pockets, hood drawstrings vs none, organic vs synthetic fabric) from the CCTV footage of the incident. Without additional context to connect the two, which NYPD has not provided to my knowledge, this is most likely a different dude entirely…. Which furthers your point about blending in. Also without special equipment a pistol with a suppressor and subsonic ammo is likely to not cycle… which as you said, if the assassin trained with the weapon he knew that already.
This is, by far, the best take I’ve read about the story. You kept everything in perspective and knowledgeably presented your points. Outstanding!