CEO assassination in New York City raises questions over private security for executives

NEW YORK (WLS) -- It's a matter of life or death for the nation's top business executives.

A midwestern health industry executive was assassinated Wednesday morning in front of a New York City hotel, as he was walking alone to an investor meeting.

The murder is prompting a renewed focus on private protection for executives, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.

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The surveillance video obtained by ABC News shows the chilling scene of an assassin taking dead aim on 50-year-old Brian Thompson, the Chief Executive Officer of one of the nation's largest health insurers, UnitedHealthcare.

The shooting is raising questions about why such a major executive in a super-heated business didn't have his own security detail.

READ MORE | UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot dead in 'brazen targeted attack' with manhunt underway

"The CEO of a billion dollar company, in our estimation, should not be traveling alone," said Dale Buckner, CEO of the international security firm Global Guardian. "This is one of those scenarios where you don't see this coming."

Buckner is in the business of making sure executives do see things coming: Shooters, bombers, and threats from behind.

In the New York surveillance footage, Thompson appeared oblivious to the threat with a raised pistol right behind him on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk.

And while New York City police haven't said who targeted Thompson or why, a growing legion of private, armed security forces are being hired out to protect top executives.

"Since this morning, we've had over 47 engagements," Buckner said. "We've deployed multiple armed agents across both the United States and internationally at other events for other corporate leaders."

Buckner's firm is not alone.

Paul Ohm, Executive Vice President of Chicago's P4 Security Solutions, tells the I-Team his company is keeping an eye on what happened to the Minnesota healthcare executive, and the overall tense environment.

"We've been dealing with this -- the uptick in risk assessment and executive protections -- and how that affects what we do in our current client base," Ohm said. "We're looking and making sure that we're going back and assessing risks properly and providing the adequate amount of resources to mitigate those risks."

RELATED | Who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson? What we know about the suspect on the run

In New York, the shooter managed to escape the shooting scene on a bicycle, riding through Central Park, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters.

At first, detectives thought he rode off on a Divvy-like bicycle, which is common bike share system in big cities. The bikes have a GPS device that could be tracked. However, police sources told ABC News that it was later determined to be just a regular bike, with no opportunity to track it.

Investigators are back to checking street cameras and are hoping at some point, the masked man lowered his mask, and that they will see the face behind this New York mystery.

"When somebody has intent to carry out a crime, it's very difficult to stop that," Ohm said. "We don't know if this person made threats previously or if this was spontaneous, if there was a personal issue, or if [the suspect] had an issue with the company. Those are things that, as they vet out, will get more specific and more detail."