Star Tribune
UHC CEO Brian Thompson is shot and killed in New York City
After clearing the jam, the shooter began to fire again, Kenny said, and then fled on foot.
Responding to reporter questions, Kenny said police don’t know if the shooter could have been a professional, nor could investigators say if there was a silencer on the weapon. From watching the video, he said, “it does seem that he’s proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly.”
After his initial flight from the scene, the suspect was later seen riding an e-bike, including when he was spotted in Central Park.
“The motive for this murder currently is unknown,” Kenny said. “Based on the evidence we have so far, it does appear that the victim was specifically targeted. But at this point, we do not know why.”
United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thompson was CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer. It is a division of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, which is the fourth-largest public company in America behind Walmart, Amazon and Apple.
His wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he had been receiving threats. “There had been some threats,” she said in a phone call with NBC News. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Star Tribune
Who is Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgency that toppled Syria’s Assad?
BEIRUT — Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s President Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. In recent days, the insurgency even dropped his nom de guerre and began referring to him by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The extent of that transformation from jihadi extremist to would-be state builder is now put to the test.
Insurgents control capital Damascus, Assad has fled into hiding, and for the first time after 50 years of his family’s iron hand, it is an open question how Syria will be governed.
Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad’s state and years of war. Many of them fear the possibility Sunni Islamist extremists will take over. The country is also fragmented among disparate armed factions, and foreign powers from Russia and Iran to the United States, Turkey and Israel all have their hands in the mix.
The 42-year-old al-Golani — labeled a terrorist by the United States — has not appeared publicly since Damascus fell early Sunday. But he and his insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS – many of whose fighters are jihadis — stand to be a major player.
For years, al-Golani worked to consolidate power, while bottled up in the province of Idlib in Syria’s northwest corner as Assad’s Iranian- and Russian-backed rule over much of the country appeared solid.
He maneuvered among extremist organizations while eliminating competitors and former allies. He sought to polish the image of his de-facto ”salvation government” that has been running Idlib to win over international governments and reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities. And he built ties with various tribes and other groups.
Along the way, al-Golani shed his garb as a hard-line Islamist guerrilla and put on suits for press interviews, talking of building state institutions and decentralizing power to reflect Syria’s diversity.
Star Tribune
NYPD releases new photos of suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing
The New York Police Department released two new photos Saturday night of the man suspected of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
First reported by NBC News and the New York Post, the images are the latest update in the search for the man sought in the Dec. 4 killing of Thompson, a Maple Grove resident who worked at the insurance company for 20 years.
One image depicts the possible shooter’s face framed in the partition of a taxi, a blue mask and black hoodie obscuring most of his features. The other photo, captured from inside a car, depicts the man outside a vehicle, wearing the same mask and hooded jacket. The NYPD said investigators have tracked some of his movements by taxi, according to NBC News.
The photos are the most recent development in an intensive manhunt, now stretching into its fifth day, for Thompson’s killer, though the efforts have so far yielded few breakthroughs.
This undated photo released by the New York Police Department shows a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024, outside of a taxi. Part of the image was blurred by the source. (NYPD via AP) (NYPD/The Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers on Friday evening found a backpack in Central Park believed to have belonged to the suspected killer, with some national outlets reporting yesterday that the bag contained two items: a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money. New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters at a police holiday party on Saturday that the “net is tightening,” according to the New York Post.
Police previously said the man may have traveled to New York City last month via a Greyhound bus that left from Atlanta. But a local outlet in Atlanta reported late last night that NYPD officers are “unclear” if the man was ever in Atlanta and where he boarded the bus.
Authorities are offering hefty rewards for information related to the CEO’s killing. The Federal Bureau of Investigations announced Friday night it would provide up to $50,000 for tips leading to an arrest and conviction, while the NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward.
The impact of Thompson’s killing has stretched from Manhattan to Minnetonka, where UnitedHealthcare is headquartered. FOX 9 reported yesterday that fencing now partially surrounds the campus’ entrances, with a police observation trailer located nearby.
Star Tribune
Trump calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Ukraine after meeting Zelenskyy in Paris
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, shortly after a meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders, claiming Kyiv ”would like to make a deal” to end the more than 1,000-day war.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Moscow and Kyiv have both lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a war that ”should never have started.”
”There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” he said, as he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to act to bring the fighting to an end.
Trump’s remarks came after a meeting Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that Zelenskyy later described as ”constructive”.
Speaking to reporters later that day, Zelenskyy insisted that any peace deal ”should be just” for Ukrainians, ”so that Russia and Putin or any other aggressors will not have the opportunity to return.”
In a separate social media update Sunday, Zelenskyy asserted that Kyiv has so far lost 43,000 soldiers since Moscow’s all-out invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, while a further 370,000 have been wounded.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been reluctant to publish official casualty figures, but Western officials have said that the past few months of grinding positional warfare in eastern Ukraine have meant record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands killed and wounded each month.