UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson fatally assassinated outside the Manhattan Hilton Hotel in New York City.
This is not a professional hit, and the manipulation of the pistol in the video is a result of malfunctions.
However, I realize that it's fun to speculate that the jacked-up pistol is something special. When the facts become known, you'll see. Until then, my guess is that it's a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.
EnjoyThis message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum, December 04, 2024 07:00 PM
December 04, 2024, 06:04 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund: Would the slide cycle normally if the lock was not engaged?
Yes and no. The Hush Puppy mechanically could fire in semiauto like any other S&W Model 39.
The issue is the extra weight of a chunky suppressor on the end of a handgun barrel prevents guns with tilting Browning actions from cycling properly. This is what a booster counteracts, by adding additional rearward force to help the barrel fully travel and unlock despite the added weight on the end.
So the Hush Puppy would not cycle in semiauto with the issued suppressor installed, even with the slide lock disengaged, since it lacked a booster to overcome the weight.
Much like how if you were to just take a Glock or Sig, stick a threaded barrel in it, and then thread a big heavy suppressor on the end with no booster, the gun won't cycle properly.
(Though there are some modern compact/lightweight pistol suppressors that don't need boosters with some ammo.)
December 04, 2024, 06:07 PM
dsiets
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK: C'mon guys... It's not some 60-80 year old war relic like a Welrod or a Hush Puppy.
Time traveler, dude, coming from the past. Or making it look that way. I'm not saying it's a time traveler, but it's it's a time traveler.
December 04, 2024, 06:09 PM
KSGM
Para is certainly right. But it is interesting to speculate.
I think a homemade silencer is possibility. It doesn't work flawlessly as a result. Hell, the whole thing could have been 3D printed. Being in NY state makes improvised weapon aspects more likely, IMO.
Whether the shooter knew to expect the gun's quirky function or not, he handled the situation coolly.
December 04, 2024, 06:13 PM
sigfreund
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK: Much like how if you just take a Glock 17, stick a threaded barrel in it, and then thread a 9mm suppressor on the end (with no booster), the gun won't cycle properly.
Thanks again. And if the killer was familiar with a setup that didn’t have the booster, his actions in cycling the slide manually with no apparent hesitation after each shot would be understandable. The one time that didn’t happen was when something else occurred about six or so seconds into the most common video we’re seeing, and seems like an obvious malfunction of some sort, possibly because he short-stroked the slide that one time.
Now I’m wondering what the result will be of this incident’s suddenly bringing suppressors to the attention of a large national audience.
► 6.0/94.0
I can tell at sight a Chassepot rifle from a javelin.
December 04, 2024, 06:15 PM
apprentice
Guess I'm not a good enough person to be among those that will mourn a dead insurance CEO.
My thoughts are that it was personally motivated as well.
December 04, 2024, 06:20 PM
old rugged cross
Horrible to see some innocent person gunned down on a city street. Especially in the earlier posted video. A tragedy.
"Practice like you want to play in the game"
December 04, 2024, 06:26 PM
BigSwede
quote:
Originally posted by apprentice: Guess I'm not a good enough person to be among those that will mourn a dead insurance CEO.
My thoughts are that it was personally motivated as well.
What exactly did he do to you? This is sick, saw the praise of his murder on reddit. Disgusting
December 04, 2024, 06:26 PM
SHOOTIN BLANKS
CEO of a very successful organization and was receiving threats yet still thought walking to a well-publicized event without security was rational. All the resources he needed for a different outcome and he squandered them. Sometimes you make your own luck.
Originally posted by wcb6092: I have a Ruger 22/45 That never misses a beat using a suppressor with standard velocity ammo. CCI makes a quiet 22 ammo that is below standard velocity.
I might have to experiment one day and see if it still functions with that ammo.
I have the same set up and have only shot Gemtech subsonics through it. It's never skipped a beat.
With the noticeable lack of recoil shown in the video, I'd have to go with a .22 of some flavor.
________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton.
December 04, 2024, 06:40 PM
fischtown7
quote:
Originally posted by SHOOTIN BLANKS: CEO of a very successful organization and was receiving threats yet still thought walking to a well-publicized event without security was rational. All the resources he needed for a different outcome and he squandered them. Sometimes you make your own luck.
Of course it was rational, Adams kept saying crime is down and guns are pretty much illegal in New York, what more convincing do you need.
Gonna find out Mom,Dad,Grandma or Grandpa had a fatal high cost illness, bills caused them to lose everything and one of the family took care of business.
December 04, 2024, 06:43 PM
tatortodd
quote:
Originally posted by jhe888:
quote:
Originally posted by HRK: Disgruntled employee, customer/insured who was denied coverage for himself, family member. The responses are brutal from people saying he got what he deserved due to problems with UHC's denial of claims.
This seems most likely and more likely than some organized murder for corporate/power/DOJ reasons. There must be many thousands with a grievance against UHC.
There is no reason to think some knowledge of gun handling means this must be a professional assassination. Many people know that much about firearms, or could learn.
Of course, we are all just speculating.
I didn't know the man, but he doesn't appear to have had a good grasp on risk management. If he did, he would not have been walking to a shareholder conference without security.
By the way, here is a comparison chart of claim denial rates for the major insurance companies:
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
December 04, 2024, 06:47 PM
sigfreund
So, it’s okay to murder a businessman because why? Because he’s a businessman‽ “Da, Comrade: Workers, arise: You have nothing to lose but your chains, and death to the bosses!”
I often wonder what sort of a world people want to live in when they advocate certain acts or policies. I don’t know anything about the political beliefs of someone who would celebrate such an act, but I’m guessing that it’s not only nuts on the Left who would approve of such a murder and who would be happy to see this nation slip even further into the pit of being a third world shithole where such things are common occurrences. Some attitudes by anyone with two brain cells to rub together to appreciate the consequences of the development of such a culture and society are astonishing.
► 6.0/94.0
I can tell at sight a Chassepot rifle from a javelin.
December 04, 2024, 07:09 PM
Lt CHEG
There are several potentially valid theories, and I’m sure NYPD is following up on them as we speak, trying to develop some leads. I personally don’t see this as someone who lost a loved one after a denied claim. Even if it had been a while since their death happened, the shooter just seemed too businesslike. If this was done out of hatred, my experience is that the shooter wouldn’t have been so calm and stayed so distant. That’s just my guess though, and even if that’s right it doesn’t preclude a number of possibilities. Also, just because this was caught on video and in public doesn’t mean that this couldn’t be a professional job either. In the end it’s all just speculation without more information, which I, sure NYPD isn’t releasing.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
December 04, 2024, 07:16 PM
saigonsmuggler
quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund: I admit, though, I’m not familiar enough with suppressors and their “hosts” to know if it’s even possible that a commonly available pistol would require manually cycling for every shot. Comments?
My AAC Ti-Rant suppressor on my P229 with SIG threaded barrel and stock single-coiled recoil spring had 0 stoppages from various 115/124 range ammo to HST 124+P and various 147 gr subsonic. It's just a flawless combination, reliability wise.
Noise wise, though when I got it in 2019, the quietest 9mm suppressor on the market, it was never Hollywood quiet when running dry. I didn't want to run it wet. 147 gr subsonics are very noticeable in the dead of the night, though I have not tried the 165-gr. 115/124 gr supersonics are near my pain threshold without ear muffs.
December 04, 2024, 07:36 PM
parabellum
So typical, isn't it, that those professional hit men allow themselves to be seen on camera when they could avoid it?
He had to have a latte. You know how it is. And leaving unspent ammunition on the ground: the mark of a professional.
"I am your retribution." - Donald Trump, speech at CPAC, March 4, 2023
December 04, 2024, 07:41 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum: So typical, isn't it, that those professional hit men allow themselves to be seen on camera when they could avoid it?
Duh... How else is the hitman gonna show off his nifty vintage WW2-era museum piece pistol?
December 04, 2024, 07:44 PM
Lt CHEG
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum: So typical, isn't it, that those professional hit men allow themselves to be seen on camera when they could avoid it?
He had to have a latte. You know how it is. And leaving unspent ammunition on the ground: the mark of a professional.
The ANTIFA theory is a good one.
I did not see that news story. That would certainly indicate that he was not a professional lol.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
December 04, 2024, 07:46 PM
darthfuster
This is like the hits seen in South America. The mark is doing his thing unsuspecting of any danger. A hitter shows up and shoots. Then hitter escapes on foot or sometimes by motorcycle. It all takes less than a minute. Everything caught on a grainy security cam and posted to a shock tube site.
We are left to speculate on numerous details that are curious. I’d like to know about the decision to use a suppressor and why it and the host weren’t better matched for function. Seems if I were to do something so risky, I would have every detail worked out so no surprises nor complications. But what do I know? I wouldn’t hit so close anyway. I’d be 880+ meters out
You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier
December 04, 2024, 07:50 PM
bigwagon
I'll buy into the Antifa theory for now, or some other "professional" chaos actor or lone wolf type looking to sow random fear.
You can be sure of one thing, there are plenty of CEOs and executives talking to their corporate security teams tonight.