Brian Thompson, the US health worry insurance CEO who was gunned down in an apparent targeted attack in Manhattan on Wednesday, had been receiving threats related to medical “coverage”, according to his widow.

“There had been some threats,” Paulette Thompson told NBC. “Basically, I don’t recognize, a lack of [medical] coverage? I don’t recognize details.”

“I just recognize that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”

Mr Thompson, who worked at UnitedHealth for several decades before rising to chief executive, was shot in the back by an unknown assailant who is now the target of a police manhunt.

The suspect used a silencer attached to a pistol as he arrived at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan to talk at an insurance conference.

Police have not identified the killer or announced any suspected motive. The killer fled into Central Park following the attack and is still at large.

Mr Thompson’s death was mourned by household and colleagues.

“We are shattered to listen about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian,” his sister-in-law said in a statement issued on behalf of the household.

“Brian was an incredibly loving, charitable, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives,” she said.

She also added that he was “an incredibly loving father” to the couple’s two sons.

UnitedHealth throng said it was “deeply saddened and shocked” by his death.

“Brian was a highly respected co-worker and partner to all who worked with him,” the corporation said in statement.

“We are working closely with the recent York Police Department and inquire for your patience and understanding during this challenging period. Our hearts leave out to Brian’s household and all who were close to him.”

Mr Thompson, who lived in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was named chief executive of UnitedHealth in April 2021.

He made $10.2m (£8m) from the corporation last year. In 2022, he made $9.8m and in 2021 he made $9.6m.

He started at the health insurance provider in 2004, and has held multiple leadership roles, including CEO of the corporation’s government programmes division.

UnitedHealth is the largest private insurer in the US.

Prior to starting at UnitedHealth, Mr Thompson was a manager at PwC for a number of years, according to his LinkedIn account.

He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a bachelor’s in business administration, it adds.

Mr Thompson had been facing insider buying and selling allegations.

A class-action lawsuit filed by a superannuation pool in May 2024 alleged that Mr Thompson sold $15m of his UnitedHealth shares when he knew that the corporation was under investigation by the US Department of fairness.

Officials were looking into whether the corporation violated US antitrust law, according to an investigation made community by a update in the Wall Street Journal in February.

The BBC has contacted UnitedHealth for comment.

UnitedHealth is a huge corporation with interests in insurance, health worry providers, pharmacy services and health data. In 2023 it had more than $371bn in revenues.

According to court documents, the corporation has purchased more than 35 healthcare companies over the last 10 years. fairness department investigators have been looking into whether it used its trade power to reduce competition, hurting customers and employees.

The Wall Street Journal reported that officials interviewed healthcare industry representatives, and were asking questions about “feasible effects of the corporation’s doctor-throng acquisitions on rivals and consumers”.

The City of Hollywood Firefighters’ superannuation pool initiated a complaint against Mr Thompson and other executives, accusing them of failing to inform investors about the investigation before selling a total of more than $117m in corporation ownership.

As long-term investors who buy large amounts of ownership, superannuation funds often receive action on behalf of shareholders, and proposed a class-action lawsuit against UnitedHealth.

The lawsuit remains energetic.

The corporation is also facing legal action over its proposed takeover of a rival healthcare corporation.

UnitedHealth offered to buy Amedisys, a provider of home healthcare and hospice services, for $3.3bn (£2.6bn).

But on 12 November, the fairness department sued to stop the union, alleging it would eliminate competition and “damage patients who receive home health and hospice services, insurers who deal for home health services, and nurses who provide home health and hospice services”.

UnitedHealth responded that the union would be “pro-competitive and further recent concept, leading to improved patient outcomes and greater access to standard worry”. It described the fairness department suit as an “overreaching interpretation of the antitrust laws”.

Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the fairness department has stepped up its enforcement of US antitrust laws, which aim to prevent industrial monopolies and inspire competition between companies.