US Man Claims to Receive Death Threats After Being Mistaken For UnitedHealthcare CEO's Assassin

New Delhi: A US man has claimed he has received death threats after being falsely identified in a viral social media post as the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Joey Mannarino, a political commentator, shared his alarm after his photo appeared online alongside the real suspect's image on X. 

The post, which showed Mannarino’s picture with the caption, “Possible match for the United Healthcare CEO assassin identified! Do you recognise this person?” has garnered millions of views.

Mannarino condemned the post, saying, “How is this allowed? This could get me killed.” Despite the backlash, the creator of the post later defended it as satire. Mannarino also shared a screenshot of a threatening message he received, writing, “Due to this post, I’m receiving death threats like this one below.”

Nearly four days after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, police still did not know the gunman’s name or whereabouts or have a motive for the killing. Investigators were looking at whether the shooter may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.

The FBI announced Friday night it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Video of the gunman fleeing Wednesday’s shooting showed him riding a bicycle into Central Park and later taking a taxi to a bus terminal that offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C, according to Kenny.

Police have video of the man entering the bus station but no video of him exiting, leading them to believe he left the city.