As the national manhunt for the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, Brian Thompson, enters its fifth day, a national firestorm has erupted as some rush to justify, and even celebrate, the killer’s actions. 

The left-leaning New York Magazine published an article this weekend arguing that the killing was “inevitable” and noting that to some the shooter is “more folk hero than murderer.” The article echoed what many on social media are saying, as the Sun has reported, as users unleashed a torrent of anger at the healthcare industry for letting patients suffer and suggesting that Thompson’s death was deserved. Another leftist outlet, the Daily Kos, is celebrating the shooting suspect as the “co-pay killer.”

“Millions of people have reason to be angry, even furious, with the insurers who control so much of their lives,” the New York Magazine article noted. “The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ripped the wound open.” The article argues that while UnitedHealthcare doesn’t shoot its victims on the street, it kills in other ways by rejecting claims and denying care. “An individual act of violence cannot solve an unjust system, but it is a symptom of social dysfunction that our decision-makers ignore at their peril.”

Even Senator Fetterman — himself a sharp critic of the healthcare industry and the “disgusting practice of corporations profiting from people’s health” — clapped back at the people justifying Thompson’s death.

“No shortage of shi*** takes on the 2024 election or on this assassination,” Mr. Fetterman wrote on X this weekend, in response to the article. “The public execution of an innocent man and father of two is indefensible, not ‘inevitable.’ Condoning and cheering this on says more about YOU than the situation of health insurance.” 

The Sun has reached out to UnitedHealthcare for comment about the criticisms of its healthcare coverage. 

As the shooting has prompted intense debate about the healthcare industry, law enforcement, meanwhile, appears to be getting closer to finding the suspect in the killing.

Mayor Adams told reporters this weekend that the “net is tightening” in the now-national manhunt for the man suspected of shooting the healthcare executive at midtown Manhattan early Wednesday morning.

“We’re going to bring this person to justice,” he said at an Athletic League party in Harlem, per the New York Post. Mr. Adams refused to say if authorities know the suspect’s name, saying that releasing that information now would be “basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all.”

The New York Police Department on Saturday night released new photos of the suspect, which appear to depict him sitting masked in a cab car. Authorities have said that the shooting “does not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premeditated, targeted attack.”

While the exact motive has not been determined, police found bullet cases with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” on them, as ABC News reported, in an apparent reference to the healthcare industry.

Police have also recovered the backpack that is believed to have belonged to the suspect, which contained a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money, the outlet also reported, citing sources with knowledge of the investigation. Authorities have been searching through the city, including divers at Central Park to look for possible evidence of a murder weapon. 

The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward to members of the public with information that leads to an arrest in the case, while the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward.