The gunman who shot and killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning in Manhattan reportedly used bullet casings inscribed with the phrases “deny,” “defend,” and “depose”—prompting many online to further celebrate the assassin.
Thompson’s killing was quick to elicit a widely less-than-sympathetic reaction, with grim memes and jokes from those critical of the health insurance industry quickly taking over the internet.
Now, the news of the message found by police on the shell casings has only caused social media to further bestow folk hero status upon the killer.
“Deny Defend Depose now that’s HARD,” remarked one X user. “One hell of a movement slogan.”
“Walking down a billionaire and shooting him with bullets that have ‘Deny, Depose, Defend’ etched onto them is the hardest shit i’ve heard all year,” echoed someone else.
“Deny Defend Depose is hella catchy,” concluded another person.
One viral post about the inscription has garnered a million views and nearly 40,000 likes.
“is this fucking real life?” the user asked.
Quipped another person: “genuinely can’t get over how insanely cool it is to write ‘deny defend depose’ on those bullets, we need to peer pressure this guy into becoming spiderman.”
“Punk house tattoo artist giving out free ‘Deny Defend Depose’ tattoos like it’s a black flag tattoo,” joked someone else.
Others pointed out the message could be tied to a book with a similar title—”Delay Deny Defend: Why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it.”
The book, published by insurance expert Jay Feinman in 2010, reports on how insurance companies deny valid claims in a systemic effort to maximize profit.
“The words echo the name of a book about how insurers won’t pay claims,” noted one person. “This is an EARTHQUAKE for corporate America.”
Another person mused that perhaps the bullets were shot in a different order than “deny, defend, depose” to more closely mirror the book title.
“do you think he shot it perfectly ‘depose deny defend’ and he’s mad the media is reporting it in the wrong order? that would bother me,” one person wondered, adding in a second post: “like i know that depose hit first, i saw the skill level.”
The suspect, who fled the scene initially on foot before getting on a bike and heading to Central Park, has not been identified—though reports indicate police may be closing in.
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