Retired FBI special agent in NC weighs in after NYPD makes arrest in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After a six-day manhunt for the man who gunned down health insurance CEO Brian Thompson last week, the NYPD announced it had made an arrest in connection to the killing.

Retired 27-year FBI Special Agent Frank Brostrom spoke to ABC11 about his takeaways from the investigation and what parallels he finds in local cases.

"Initially everybody's saying that it looks like a professional hit and kind of on the surface, it did, but then as they started to uncover things, you know, I just predicted. a lot of us predicted that this is going to be one of these lone, lone guys," Brostrom said.

The NYPD also found what they believed to be the shooter's backpack in Central Park after the killing, filled with Monopoly money.

"I think he was going to do something with that Monopoly money and try to make a point, but obviously didn't get a chance to and panicked and dumped it. That's just an assumption," Brostrom said.

Authorities took 26-year-old Luigi Mangione into custody Monday in connection to the shooting; he had notes with him at the time that the NYPD said expressed ill will toward corporate America.

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The case captured the attention of the nation, which may have helped someone recognize him and call the police, leading to his arrest.

The attention also carried negative effects, with some people online praising the shooting, citing grievances with insurance companies in particular. Brostrom said that kind of sentiment can be dangerous.

"It's horrible because you're going to have your copycats out there. You're going to have people using that to try to coerce people and threaten people and scare people. It is a nightmare," Brostrom said.

He said he'd seen similar rhetoric before during his time in the FBI.

"They even shot into the command post of the FBI in the mountains that we're looking for on the fugitive hunt for Eric Rudolph, and it makes it very, very difficult when you have people supporting someone like that. That's radical and violent," Brostrom said.

Rudolph was a politically-motivated bomber, who set off four bombs that killed two people and injured hundreds more in the late 1990s. He was arrested in the mountains of western North Carolina in 2003.

"Evidence showed that he was being, he was getting support, food and shelter from people and hiding him from the government because they were anti-government. They had an anti-government sentiment," Brostrom said.

Brostrom now works as an executive protection agent in North Carolina. He said he was surprised that Thompson didn't have any security with him at the time of the shooting, and he's preparing for an uptick in business in the coming months as more CEOs opt for protection in the wake of Thompson's murder.