UnitedHealth down 15% amid grief, anger, frustration after shooting

Shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) have tumbled nearly 15% since the chief executive of its insurance unit was killed in what the police describe as a targeted attack.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot earlier this month in front of the New York Hilton Midtown. Thompson, a father of two, was scheduled to speak at the health insurer’s annual investor conference that day.

Ivy League-educated Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested Monday after a five-day manhunt at a McDonald’s (MCD) restaurant in Altoona on Monday after an employee tipped off police. Mangione has been charged with one count of second-degree murder and four other charges.

Anger and Frustration

Thompson’s murder has elicited shock across the healthcare industry, as well as anger from Americans struggling with high healthcare costs and a complex U.S. health insurance system.

Many Americans have shown little sympathy for the executive’s death, instead criticizing healthcare companies for denying coverage or care.

McDonald’s (MCD) restaurants in Altoona, Pennsylvania were review bombed online after Mangione’s arrest.

According to friends and social media posts, Mangione suffered from chronic back pain that affected his daily life, but it has not yet been confirmed if his personal health influenced the shooting.

In a three-page statement that Mangione was carrying when he was arrested, he described the killing as a “symbolic takedown,” The New York Times reported, citing an internal police report.

Industry Response

In a New York Times opinion piece on Friday, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) CEO Andrew Witty said the company knows that the “the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it.”

Witty pushed back against the criticism that the insurer has received online, saying “we also are struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats.”

Health insurance companies have removed photos of their top executives from their websites and considered amping up security measures.

Public Support

Mangione has received thousands of dollars in donations since his arrest, with more than a thousand donations flooding into an online fundraiser for his legal defense.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a previously high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Websites selling Mangione merchandise have popped up, with platforms like Amazon (AMZN), Etsy (ETSY), and eBay (EBAY) taking down merch listings celebrating the suspect.

Deny, Defend, Depose

The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were etched into shell casings discovered at the Thompson murder scene, most likely in reference to a 2010 book critical of the insurance industry titled “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”

ABC News reported Thursday that a Florida woman was arrested and charged this week after she ended a phone call with her health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield saying “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.”