This is confirmed by a high-ranking police officer with insight into the investigation for NBC News.
The CEO of the American insurance company United Healthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot several times by a perpetrator early in the morning outside a hotel in New York.
Surveillance footage from the scene shows that the perpetrator initially shoots Thompson from behind. Thompson was taken to hospital but his life could not be saved.
No one has been arrested yet.
Possible motive
The news agency Bloomberg writes that the message on the casings resembles "Delay, Deny, Defend", which is the title of a book from 2010. It deals with the tactics insurance companies are said to use to avoid paying out premiums.
The investigators are therefore looking closer at whether anger over an insurance dispute could be a motive for the murder of Thompson.
According to images from surveillance cameras and witnesses who have spoken to Bloomberg, the shooter waited for the CEO outside the hotel and shot him at close range.
Received threats
New York's Mayor Eric Adams says that Thompson does not seem to have been attacked randomly.
It appears that an individual clearly targeted him and we will catch that person, says Adams according to the news agency AP.
Thompson's wife, Paulette Thompson, confirms to NBC that her husband had received threats.
I only know that he said there were some people who had threatened him, she says.
The health insurance company United Healthcare is based in Minnesota, USA. The parent company United Health Group ranks as number eight on Forbes' list of the world's largest companies in terms of revenue.
Corrected: In an earlier version of the text, the wrong part of the company was placed on Forbes' list.
