Social media is usually ablaze with hypotheses and tips from amateur online detectives searching for the suspected culprit of a high-profile violent crime.
However, in the growing realm of true crime, an unusual thing occurred after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in New York City last week without a prime suspect being identified: internet silence from highly followed armchair investigators.
According to Michael McWhorter, better known on TikTok as TizzyEnt, who shares viral news and true crime content for his 6.7 million followers, “I haven’t seen a single video that’s hammering the drum of we have to find him, and that is unique.” I would definitely be witnessing that in other instances of obvious aggression.
The 50-year-old executive was shot and killed Wednesday in front of a bustling hotel in New York City by a masked shooter who is still at large, according to authorities. A senior New York City law enforcement official informed on the inquiry stated that round casings discovered at the scene had the words “deny, defend, and depose” inscribed on them.
People who are upset about the status of American healthcare have praised Thompson’s targeted death online. On social media, tens of thousands of individuals have sympathized with the assassination or offered support for it. Some even seemed to rejoice over it.
Alex Goldenberg, a senior adviser at Rutgers University’s The Network Contagion Research Institute, previously told NBC News that the increase in social media posts celebrating and applauding the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson is extremely alarming. (UnitedHealthcare, not its parent business, UnitedHealth Group, had Thompson as its CEO.)
According to a statement from his family, Thompson was a very loving father to his two sons and would be sorely missed.
The message continued, “We are devastated to learn of our beloved Brian’s senseless death.” Brian was a very talented, kind, and loving man who lived life to the fullest and had a profound impact on many people’s lives.
Nevertheless, the probe has been ignored by some of the most well-known online detectives.
We don’t really care about that. Savannah Sparks, who has 1.3 million followers on her TikTok account, has been accused of aiding to identify the shooter by identifying and exposing the identity of people who engage in racist or ostensibly illegal behavior in viral videos. She went on to say that her community has ideas of thoughts and prayers instead of detective work. My prayers there were refused, you know, in reference to cliched and insincere condolences.
According to emails obtained by NBC News, Sparks, 34, has previously been called upon by law enforcement to assist in training officers on how to locate individuals online. However, she stated that she is not interested in assisting police this time.
Sparks, who has a doctorate in pharmacy and works as a lactation consultant in the medical field, was blunt when asked if her community was trying to identify the person responsible for Thompson’s murder.
She said, “Absolutely the f— not.”
Thatdaneshguy, another well-known TikTok detective with two million followers, posted a video criticizing the medical field and declaring that he would not attempt to find the murderer. I’m not required to promote violence. By no means do I have to support violence. However, he added, “I don’t have to help either.”
This mindset among certain content producers coincides with increased focus on dissatisfaction with American healthcare following the murder.
According to a Gallup poll issued on Friday, Americans think the quality of health care is at its lowest point in 24 years. 54% of those surveyed thought health care coverage is fair or poor, which is significantly worse.
In one instance, internet detectives discovered footage of a Proud Boy beating an officer during his seditious conspiracy trial. They have also assisted the FBI in identifying hundreds of Capitol rioters and apprehending previously detained Jan. 6 defendants who were committing crimes that the bureau’s own analysis had overlooked.
And internet detectives pounced when 22-year-old Gabby Petito vanished while sharing pictures of her cross-country journeys with her fiancé on social media. Later on, it was found that Petito was murdered by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, who committed suicide.
On X, then known as Twitter, at least one individual who made an effort to assist in the search for Thompson’s killer received criticism for it.
After looking through data from Citi Bike’s bikeshare service, software engineer Riley Walz wrote in a widely shared post that he was quite certain of the shooter’s bike escape route. He claimed to have given the police the information.
However, a person close to Lyft, the company that runs Citi Bike, later claimed that the NYPD explicitly informed the business that the incident had nothing to do with the bikeshare program.
Walz said he would not comment on Friday. Some X users have referred to him as a snitch since he posted. According to McWhorter, also known as TizzyEnt on TikTok, criticism of individuals who did attempt to assist could deter others from doing so.
He remarked, “I have to imagine that factors into some people’s decision if you’re seeing it in such a groundswell.”
But mostly, McWhorter stated, “I don’t see a bunch of people just feeling an urgency,” referring to this strange sense.
On Friday night, McWhorter uploaded his first video regarding the incident. The video, which lasted around two minutes, discussed how little people care.
According to Swarthmore College assistant professor of computer science Sukrit Venkatagiri, many people feel disconnected from a wealthy CEO.
According to Venkatagiri, they don’t truly understand the victim in this situation.
“Anecdotally, I have seen less talk about finding Thompson’s killer on spaces like the subreddit r/Reddit Bureau of Investigations, an online sleuthing page on Reddit that claims it is using the power of the internet to solve real-world problems,” said Venkatagiri, who has studied the harms of misinformation and disinformation as well as crowd sourcing investigations.
According to Venkatagiri, people are less inclined to assist this victim in this particular situation from an altruistic standpoint.
In addition to a dearth of internet research, which occasionally complicates law enforcement’s investigations, the New York Police Department has disclosed a wealth of material.
Police made public a number of surveillance recordings, including one in which the suspect shoots Thompson, and two photos of a person of interest, including one in which he is grinning while checking out of a hostel on the Upper West Side of New York City using a forged ID.
Three senior law enforcement officials familiar with the matter told NBC News that investigators think the shooter may have taken a bus from Atlanta to New York City last month.
A senior law enforcement officer informed on the case on Friday stated that while the investigation is ongoing, no suspect has been identified. According to the person, police have tracked the suspect’s timeline in Manhattan and discovered dozens of photographs from his surveillance cameras.
Up to $10,000 has been offered by the police as a reward for information that results in an arrest and conviction.
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