Depose. Deny. Defend.
According to New York detectives, those three words were etched into the shell casings of the bullets that killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning.
Some killers like to leave notes.
And the police, of course, must carefully parse each clue, desperate to unravel a motive, a personal connection — anything that might reveal the killer’s identity.
But the sad truth is, humans are diverse, cruel, and deviously creative. When you doom-scroll through the annals of criminal history, the tragic theme that emerges is that we slaughter each other for all kinds of reasons, large and small, justifiable and psychotic.
It makes it tricky to pinpoint a motive for any one murder.
Sometimes we kill for fun. Other times it’s to make a larger, sociopolitical point. Or it could simply be vengeance for marital disloyalty; personal betrayals can turn your heart cold. But the three biggest reasons why we murder are robbery, jealousy, and vengeance.
When you factor in mental health issues, it could quite literally be any delusion imaginable. If you were playing amateur detective in 1981, attempting to decipher John Hinckley Jr.’s motives after he tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan, it would probably take you a few days before you slapped your head and exclaimed, “Of course! He wanted to impress Jodie Foster!”
People are weird.
It’s not pleasant to think about, but we’re all extraordinarily vulnerable — all of us, from the lowliest bum on the street to the wealthiest king on his throne. If one person wants to kill you badly enough, there’s not a whole lot you can do.
There’s not a whole lot anyone can do.
We know that Brian Thompson, age 50, kept a relatively low public profile. Usually, the CEO is the “public face” of his company; the anthropomorphism of a faceless, bloodless, lifeless corporation. So Thompson could’ve been specifically targeted by an unhappy patron of UnitedHealthcare; he also could’ve been targeted because he symbolizes the faults and shortcomings of our healthcare system writ large.
Ever since the mayhem, lies, and paranoia of COVID, there’s no shortage of Americans pissed off at our healthcare coverage. We all know someone who was screwed over by the system. Many of us know multiple people.
That’s a lot of suspects with motives.
I don’t want to include a video of the shooting. It’s been replayed enough already; if you care enough, you can find it online. Obviously, it’s morbid and gross. And psychologically, who knows the long-term harm when millions of prepubescent kids are watching Thompson get shot to death while casually eating their Frosted Flakes?
It’s not healthy.
Despite all our impressive technology and veneer of civility, we’re really not that different from the Romans in the Colosseum, cheering for blood to be spilled. Humans are gonna human.
But the video of the shooting shows a man who was calm and focused. He seemed familiar with the firearm he used. As New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told the media, “…every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.”
The killer had a silencer and subsonic ammunition. When his weapon jammed, he quickly fixed the problem and shot again. Some ex-FBI agents have described him as “clearly a seasoned, professional killer.”
He was also self-aware enough to shield his identity from cameras and bystanders, and cagey enough to plan a quick getaway.
But on the other hand, if it was a professional hit, it’s odd that he didn’t wear gloves. Why hide your face but not your hands — especially on a cold December morning in New York?
And why would a professional hitman travel with a cellphone? In addition to the three shell casings etched with the words “Delay," "Deny," and "Defend,” the police also found a cell phone abandoned in the alley where the killer initially fled.
It’s possible the cellphone was deliberately left behind. But if it was handled by a barehanded killer, it probably has fingerprints.
Why would a killer go to such lengths to avoid detection, but abandon a cellphone?
And what does a “professional hit” mean anyway? You can hire a hitman for embarrassingly little money. He might be a “professional” in the literal sense, but he’s probably not an ex-CIA assassin or anyone with Hollywood-style training.
In other words, the “professional hitman” you hired on the dark web is less likely to be John Wick and more likely to be an unstable addict with more debts than morals.
Still, this is the world we’re living in today — a world of chaos, danger, and uncertainty. And we’re all exceedingly vulnerable.
Sleep well, America.
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