‘Light-Skinned’: NYPD Ripped For Refusing To Call UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Killer A White Man

Source: NYPD

On Wednesday morning, just before 7 a.m., a gunman fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson near a hotel on 54th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in NYC, according to News Nation. The shooter is still at large, and authorities don’t believe his deadly act was random. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference that it was a “premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” and that the suspect was “lying in wait for several minutes.”

While the killing of Thompson has caused a massive uproar online (as well as a lot of mocking by people who abhor the American healthcare insurance system), some people, especially Black people, couldn’t help but notice something a little off about the way the shooter has been described.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said during a news conference that the shooter appeared to be a “light-skinned male…wearing a light brown or cream-colored jacket, a black face mask, black and white sneakers, and a very distinctive gray backpack.”

Folks on X took exception to Kenny’s use of the term “light-skinned” — a term typically used to describe Black people of a lighter complexion — to describe a man who appears to be white.

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“Somebody tell the NYPD that this IS NOT a ‘light skinned man.’ This is a ‘white skinned man,’” one user tweeted.

“Ummm #NYPD is trying to paint a picture that the shooter that shot and killed the #CEO of #United #Healthcare is a ‘light skin man,’” another person wrote. “LIES, I’m a light skin man, the man in the picture is a WHITE man.”

Of course, the suspect in the photo is wearing a mask, so it’s arguable that you can’t definitively tell what his race is — but one would have to be stretching their “I don’t see color” vision if they looked at the photo and didn’t immediately determine the suspect is a white man. And considering that American law enforcement, politicians and even media outlets tend to have a difficult time calling white domestic terrorism exactly what it is — despite the data that shows it represents the biggest domestic terrorism threat in the nation — it’s understanding that the use of the term “light-skinned” raises some eyebrows.

Anyway, here’s a little more on the shooter and how the killing of Thomson unfolded via News Nation:

Many people passed the person by, but he “appeared to wait for his intended target,” according to Tisch.

As Thompson arrived at the Hilton, the shooter stepped out from behind a car and fired multiple rounds, striking Thompson in the leg and back. Kenny said it appeared that the “gun malfunctions as he clears the jam and begins to fire again.”

The suspect then ran through an alley, hopped on an electric Citi Bike and rode through Central Park on Center Drive.

“I hear a shot,” a witness told Nexstar local affiliate WPIX. “When I look around, I saw a guy with a gun. He shot three times, then he starts running.”

Investigators recovered several 9 mm shell casings from outside the hotel and a cell phone from the alleyway through which the suspect fled. They were also searching Thompson’s hotel room and interviewing his UnitedHealthcare colleagues, Kenny said.

While the shooting was targeted, police say they still don’t know a motive for the attack.

According to PIX 11, sources reported that three bullets at the scene had the words “defend,” “depose,” and “deny” written on them, and the NYPD is looking into whether the words hold any meaning that might shed light on the shooter’s motive.

In the meantime, the police department is offering up to $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

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