MANHUNT for a CEO's KILLER IN COLD BLOOD

WHY WOULD A 26-YEAR-OLD IVY LEAGUE GRAD MURDER A HEALTH CARE EXECUTIVE? INSIDE THE SHOCKING CASE

- LIAM QUINN

Just before dawn on a dark Midtown Manhattan sidewalk, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was making his way to his giant health insurance company's annual investors event at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel when he was silently approached from behind by a man holding a gun. In surveillance video since viewed by millions on social media, Thompson-a married 50-year-old father of two from Maple Grove, Minn.―is seen getting shot by a calm assassin.

Without so much as pausing, the gunman turns to the street and vanishes into the city that would soon awaken to news of one of the most sensational murders in recent memory. "This appears to be a brazen, targeted attack," New York Police Department commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference hours later.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (above) was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel (right) on Dec. 4. Suspect Luigi Mangione (below, on Facebook) was arrested in Pennsylvania.

"This does not appear to be a random act of violence." Police soon found evidence that they were dealing with an unusual killer: Shell casings left on the sidewalk were labeled "deny," "defend" and "depose"-seemingly a reference to a strategy used in the insurance industry to deny customers' claims, suggesting that the gunman might be a disgruntled customer or a radical anti-insurance-industry activist.

New Yorkers and people across the country launched a furious debate on social media about the role of health insurers in society and were riveted by every development in the massive manhunt that stretched to six days before a highly unlikely suspect was spotted by a customer at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pa., some 270 miles southwest of the city, and detained by police on Dec. 9.