Murdering CEOs Is Evil

By Dominic Pino

Wednesday, December 04, 2024

 

There appears to be some confusion about this online, so here it is plain and simple: Murdering corporate executives is evil.

 

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning in what appears to be a targeted attack by a professional killer. Video shows the disguised gunman used a silencer and stalked Thompson to kill him specifically, shooting him repeatedly until he was dead. “At this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” New York Police Department commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

 

The video is horrifying. The murder occurred shortly before 7 a.m. on the sidewalk right in front of the hotel Thompson was staying in. Any number of other people could have been caught up in it. The flagrant lawlessness should concern anyone.

 

The suspect apparently was trained in firearms, as he successfully cleared a jam in the gun when firing on Thompson. He also managed to get away after shooting someone during the day in midtown Manhattan, suggesting a well-planned getaway. This was not random violence by a disturbed individual or street crime in an unsafe neighborhood. This was a targeted hit that someone had to pay for and plan in the center of one of the world’s most vital business districts.

 

Parent company UnitedHealth has said that its executives have received death threats in the past, and Thompson’s widow said he had received death threats personally, according to reporting from CNN. The shooting occurred when the security team was not with Thompson.

 

The natural human reaction to all of this is to first be horrified that a husband and father of two children was murdered. The second reaction is to wonder who planned this and whether they have also planned more hits, against other UnitedHealth executives or leaders of other companies.

 

This is not the time to offer your criticisms of the health-insurance industry. And there is never a time to believe that corporate executives are, by their very nature, evil people who deserve to be killed. Yet, that is what you’ll see if you go on social media right now and look at comments on news stories about this assassination.

 

I had never heard of Brian Thompson before today, and it’s entirely possible that he made some bad decisions. It is not possible that he deserved to be murdered, because nobody deserves to be murdered. And the level of seething resentment some people seem to have of wealthy people is deeply unhealthy.

 

Socialism is always motivated by envy and often brought about by violence. If there is some kind of organized effort to target CEOs with violence to win applause from the public, that ought to fail because the American public would be repulsed by it. All of us need to be repulsed by this murder. Basic human decency and a commitment to a free society demand it.