If you’ve been online at all recently, you’ve likely seen the posts. Posts glorifying, praising, or in general fan-girling out over how handsome a murderer is.

This young man has been charged with the pre-meditated murder of Bryan Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, an insurance company. He did this by either creating or purchasing a 3D printed gun, traveling to an event that Bryan Thompson was going to be at, and camping out for him. He shot him multiple times in the back and lower extremities, which lead to his death.

The shooter then escaped and his identity was unknown for a time, until he was caught a few days later at a McDonalds, after an employee and patron recoginised his face from the news.

It came out shortly afterward that he had at some point in the past suffered a severe lumbar spine injury. Initially, it was thought that he had committed this crime after insurance failed to cover his medical care, but it has since come to light that United Health was not and never had been his insurer.

The reaction from media, public figures, and the human race as a whole since his capture has been staggering to say the least. I have seen countless videos and photos posted by women, describing how they will be going to see him in jail for a conjugal visit, how he’ll be the father of their children, etc. Based on the appeal of him being a “sexy vigilante”, people are writing him off as an innocent and holding him up to be a Robin Hood kind of figure. People say that the CEO was complicit in thousands of death due to insurance issues, so the shooter did the world a favor. Many people think that he should not face any criminal charges at all.

*Sigh*

Sufficed to say, I have very strong opinions on this topic.

First of all, I believe it is categorically wrong to give murderers or mass-shooters so much publicity. You have notice I have not used his name in this article. The mere act of posting the identity and name of shooters immortalizes them and incentivizes others to follow in their steps. If someone knows they can shoot an innocent civilian based off a perceived wrong, and their cause get viral attention through their actions, they are incentivized to do so.

Secondly, on the issue of if this murder was justified, let’s look at the facts. Bryan Thompson did not himself murder a single person. We can argue the ethical and moral greivances of insurance companies not covering all care, but at the end of the day, all that can be said is that they may be potentially culpable. Now let’s look at Bryan’s supposed guilt.

People say that Bryan deserved to die because of his supposed culpability in the death of others. So…if he deserved to die because he supposedly had a part in withholding care from others…wouldn’t it follow that the man who shot him absolutely deserves to die because he directly murdered someone?

The only acceptable answer to that question is a resounding yes.

The shooter was 100% un-justified in the murder of Bryan Thompson. Let’s assume we know nothing about if Bryan is innocent or not. The shooter took the life of another human being who was not actively endangering anyone. The shooter shot a man in the back like a coward. The shooter took matters into his own hands, while acknowledging in his manifesto that he didn’t actually know how insurance worked, and wasn’t an authority on the topic at all. The shooter deprived a wife of her husband, children of their father, and parents of their son for the rest of their lives.

Again, a man who had nothing to do with the care that the shooter did or did not receive due to insurance issues.

Assuming that this man is proven guilty, I must say and encourage you to agree that, no, the United Healthcare Shooter was not justified in his willful and pre-meditated murder of an innocent man, Bryan Thompson.

-M-