An alleged copycat of the suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter has been accused of threatening a health insurance company with the same words found on the gunman’s bullet casings.
Briana Boston, 42, allegedly uttered the same words that were on shell casings outside a New York City hotel where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead, in a call with BlueCross BlueShield on her denied claims.
‘Delay, deny, depose,’ Boston said near the end of her Tuesday call, according to the Lakeland Police Department in Florida.
‘You people are next.’
The words ‘delay’, ‘deny’ and ‘depose’ were discovered on bullet casings connected to Luigi Mangione, 26, who is charged with murdering Thompson.
They appear to mirror the title of the 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About.
Boston’s phrase after the three words was eerily similar to some of Mangione’s alleged writings before the fatal shooting on December 4.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and reportedly had a handwritten note that stated in reference to UnitedHealthcare: ‘These parasites simply had it coming.’
The note criticized Thompson’s company which is the largest health insurer in the US, the country’s healthcare industry and corporate America.
As prosecutors in New York City work on extraditing and bringing charges against Mangione, some people have emerged as his supporters, treating him as a martyr of sorts fighting for insurance payment rights and against corporate greed.
Several crowdfunding efforts amassed tens of thousands of dollars for Magione. GiveSendGo as of Thursday afternoon had received more than $50,000 in donations for his defense fund.
But asked on Tuesday if Mangione would accept donations for his legal battle, his lawyer, Thomas Dickey, said, ‘I don’t know.’
Boston’s arrest affidavit, obtained by WFLA, stated that the three words have become widely known as ‘directed against insurance companies’.
Police reached Boston at her Lakeland home later that day and she admitted to using the words during the call, which was recorded.
‘Healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil,’ Boston told detectives, according to the affidavit.
Boston allegedly further explained that she used the words ‘because it’s what is in the news right now’.
Cops said that Boston did not own weapons and ‘was not a danger to anyone’.
Boston has been arrested and charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism. She appeared to frown in her mugshot while wearing a dark-colored shirt.
A judge set her bond at $100,000, stating that it was ‘appropriate considering the status of our country at this point’.
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