The shooting of Brian Thompson sparked two very separate reactions around his killer: a manhunt and admiration from certain parts of the internet, with the latter creating concern among security experts that this killing might inspire copy-cat events.

When a person is gunned down in broad daylight, people do not usually have praise ready for the gunman, but the killing of the CEO of a health insurance company elicited less sympathy and more memes from certain members of the general public, including at least 90,000 people reacting to a tribute post to Thompson on Facebook with “laughing” emojis.

This reaction led security professionals to tell Newsweek that the current environment is dangerous for CEOs and C-suite members.

Thompson was fatally shot by as he walked alone to his company’s annual investor conference in Manhattan at the New York Hilton Midtown at 6:44 a.m. on December 4. While his alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, is in custody, the jokes and the praise have not stopped, with people online making up fake alibis for him, saying the police should “free him,” and even review-bombing the McDonald’s where he was apprehended by police as a show of support.

 

Read the full article here: https://www.newsweek.com/copycat-murders-brian-thompson-luigi-mangione-1998582