Chilling prediction about Brian Thompson assassin’s identity amid fears of copycat killings

A former FBI chief has revealed that he does not believe Brian Thompson’s killer was a hit man, but that he was clearly a “skilled” marksman.

Robert D’Amico said the killer of the UnitedHeathcare CEO made a number of crucial mistakes that marked him as an amateur, including visiting a nearby Starbucks prior to the murder.

Thompson, 50, does was shot in the early hours of Wednesday as he headed to an investor conference at the Hilton Midtown in New York.

The health insurer’s wife, Paulette, from whom he was separated, revealed that he had recently faced threats citing a “lack of coverage.”

The gunman approached Thompson from behind and fired several shots from a pistol equipped with a silencer. He then fled on an eBike and remains at large.

D’Amico said the killer likely shed the clothing he was filmed in shortly after the killing and may have already committed suicide.

But the expert also speculated that the success of the execution and subsequent escape may have given him the courage to think he can escape the crime.

D’Amico told DailyMail.com he believes a “suicide by cop” where the killer would deliberately provoke police into killing him if caught is unlikely.

He said the tactic is more common among school shooters who want to go out in a blaze of glory and that Thompson’s killer has shown no signs of selfishness.

D’Amico warned that the “brutal” murder could lead to copycat killings, as he speculated it was the work of someone with a “personal vendetta” against Thompson’s company.

The security expert reviewed the footage of the killing and noted that while D’Amico’s first shot was on target, his subsequent hits were more erratic.

“His first shot was well aimed,” D’Amico told DailyMail.com. “But on the second one he hits him in the leg somehow. He took a longer chance than you would expect if it was professional.’

He pointed out that although the shooter used a silencer, the gun jammed after his first round.

“You could say, ‘OK, he used an oppressor.’d He recognized that the gun was jammed and was able to deal with it, but the gun was not adjusted enough to function properly with the suppressor.

‘A professional would have taken care of that. He fixed it quickly, so I’d say he’s competent, but not a ‘hitman’, meaning very few hitmen exist and if they do, they’re often undercover cops or police sources, meaning someone’ rents’. Usually they get arrested for trying to hire a hit man.”

The security consultant also pointed out that the killer was captured on surveillance footage at a nearby Starbucks prior to the murder, which he said a true mercenary would never have allowed.

Instead, D’Amico argued that the killer had simply “thought a lot” about their crime.

“You can tell he’s not excited, he’s calm,” D’Amico added. “He doesn’t start running until he’s halfway down the street.”

D’Amico, the founder of his security consultancy Sierra One, said it was surprising that Thompson had no protection whatsoever given the recent threats against him.

He warned that such threats are likely to increase in the wake of the killing and could spur others already considering such crimes to take similar actions.

‘Someone already thinking about doing something similar could bring this to the forefront.

“But you’ll get a lot of threats. People will take what happened here and use it as a way to scare people: “what happened to that CEO will happen to you too.”

“It could increase the scare factor and certainly increase the threats, and for someone already thinking about it, potentially cause something.”

He urged other high-net-worth individuals to be vigilant about sharing their schedules online.

UnitedHealthcare had made an announcement about the investor conference without specifying a location.

But D’Amico said simple Google searches would have been enough to yield enough information to allow the gunman to carry out the “brazen, targeted attack.”

“Even a layman can end up on Google and a more experienced person can find even more,” D’Amico said.

Footage of the horror shooting showed the killer lying in wait for Thompson and appearing to know which hotel entrance he would use.

The NYPD announced a $10,000 reward to anyone with information about the shooting and released two images of the suspect seen in a Starbucks before the murder.

He is described as a white male wearing a cream-colored jacket, a black face mask, black and white sneakers and a gray backpack.

The killer was originally believed to have fled on a CitiBike, whose users can be easily tracked via phone and credit card details.

But police now say the killer used a personal eBike, which may have made him much harder to find.

On Thursday morning, the Kama Central Park Hostel in New York was raided by NYPD officers, with the killer believed to have spent the night before the execution there.

Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealthcare in 2021, reportedly making $10 million a year, and for several years before that led the Medicare business within UnitedHealthcare.

Just months before the killing, the company’s headquarters in Minnesota were rocked by large protests over a so-called “epidemic” of claim denials, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Thompson was separated from his wife Paulette at the time of the shooting, with the former couple living in separate million-dollar Minnesota mansions a mile apart.