Healthcare CEO Assassin Left Message On Bullets

The at-large suspect who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown hotel may have left a message on the bullets he used to kill the executive Wednesday morning, according to police sources.

The NYPD is investigating the possible message — which appears to include the words “deny,” “depose” and “defend” — engraved on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the masked assassin after he shot Thompson, 50, several times at about 6:46 a.m. before fleeing, the sources said.

The words are strikingly similar to a 2010 book condemning the insurance business, in which Thompson is one of the most powerful leaders.

“Delay, Deny, Defend” — two of the three words seemingly left — is sub-titled: “Why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it.”

Cops had recovered three live 9-millimeter rounds and three discharged casings in front of the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue, where Thompson, of Minnesota, was set to host an investors’ conference that morning, police officials said.

Sources said several of the pieces of evidence each contained one word, indicating the killer may have been trying to leave a message as investigators try to piece together a motive.

The masked gunman used a silencer and appeared to be an experienced shooter based on surveillance footage obtained by The Post.

He was seen waiting outside the luxury hotel for his target — the CEO with a yearly salary of nearly $9.9 million — before he calmly fired off multiple shots at close range, causing Thompson to stumble and collapse.