An officer stands in a street as police respond to a shooting incident in the Midtown Manhattan neighbourhood earlier this week. Photo / Charly Triballeau, AFP
A mass killing at a Midtown Manhattan office tower this week has raised new security concerns for American corporations.
Many are still rattled by the targeted killing of a health care chief executive in December and the rising spectre of violence reaching their doors, even in bustling and seemingly safe business districts.
Though many corporations already have beefed-up protections for leadership, some security consultants expect they will move to further fortify their office buildings.
They will be kitted out not just with key cards and turnstiles but will adopt protocols commonly found at United States schools, houses of worship and other places that have faced similar attacks.
Requests for corporate risk assessments have soared since UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson was gunned down late last year, said Glen Kucera, president of enhanced protection services at Allied Universal, a security firm with a global workforce of 800,000.
Companies such as Intel and Lockheed Martin are earmarking hundreds of thousands of dollars for executive security, and firms are tracking social media for “aggressive rhetoric” that could lead to violence.
There’s been a “sea change” since Thompson was killed while making his way to an investor conference at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, said John Torres of the global consultancy Guidepost Solutions. “We’ve been getting calls non-stop.”
Kucera said Allied received more requests for risk assessments in the six months after Thompson’s slaying than in the preceding five years combined. The assessments examine social media, office buildings and other factors to gauge the likelihood of violence against employees.
About half of Fortune 500 companies provided security details for C-suite executives in May, compared with roughly 20% last year, Kucera said.
A separate analysis of 208 companies in the S&P 500 found that 31.3% of them provided security benefits as part of executive compensation packages, up from 24.5% in 2023 and 23.1% in 2022, according to the research firm Equilar.
Some industry observers said there’s more that corporations can do to protect their workforces from unexpected and seemingly random attacks, such as installing panic buttons or weapons-detection technology.
“We’re badging people in - we’re not searching their bags, they’re not going through metal detectors,” said Amanda DeAlmeida with Building Security Services, a firm that provides guards for more than 100 properties across New York and New Jersey.
They mostly act as concierges in the office buildings they serve, she said.
“Unfortunately, if we’re not armed, there’s only so much that the guards can do,” DeAlmeida added.
In the event of an attack, they will follow active-shooter protocols, she said, but without access to panic buttons, loudspeakers or other tools, it’s “a lot more difficult” to alert tenants to danger.
Tuesday’s attack follows a spate of violent or politically motivated incidents involving major corporate brands.
A Tesla Cybertruck explosion in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, reports of molotov cocktails and gunfire at Tesla lots across the US, and a stabbing attack that injured 11 people at a Michigan Walmart.
About 28% of public mass shootings - those that weren’t at private residences - took place in a workplace, according to a 2023 National Institute of Justice report that synthesised findings from dozens of publications and research projects. An additional 13% occurred in retail establishments.
The gunman the latest shooting, whom police identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, double parked and entered the lobby of 345 Park Avenue with an AR-style rifle just before 6.30pm local time, according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
He opened fire, killing off-duty police officer Didarul Islam, who was providing security for the building, and proceeded to spray the lobby with bullets, Tisch said.
Also killed were Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner as she tried to find cover behind a pillar, and guard Aland Etienne, who was shot behind his security desk.
Tamura then boarded a lift - allowing a woman to get off unharmed - and rode it to the 33rd floor, where he killed Rudin Management employee Julia Hyman before shooting himself, authorities said.
Some tenants had time to barricade themselves inside their offices during the attack.
Employees at private-equity firm Blackstone stacked grey sofas against a door, according to an image circulating on social media and confirmed by the firm.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said in television interviews that Tamura appeared to be targeting offices of the National Football League but took the wrong lift, arriving at a floor where Rudin Management, a real estate firm and the building manager, has an office.
A note found in Tamura’s wallet, Adams said, mentioned chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease that the football league has been grappling with for years.
The NFL did not respond to a request for comment. In a memo to staff, Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote that an NFL employee was seriously injured in the attack and was in a hospital in stable condition.
Executives at Rudin Management could not be reached by phone or email.
While most large companies and office towers have some form of security in place, the level varies based on factors including how high-profile or controversial the firm is, said Fred Burton, executive director of protective intelligence for Ontic, a security technology company.
Companies weigh considerations such as how many people “harbour some degree of hate and discontent against your CEO or the industry that you’re with”, he said. “Are you doing work for the - air quote - the ‘industrial war machine?’”
An increasingly polarised political climate has only heightened those concerns, as protests over the Gaza war, immigration policies, and other matters have spilled onto streets and university campuses and led to company boycotts, some industry observers said.
“It only takes one person to turn around and say, oh, this company is led by someone whose politics they don’t like. And they’re going to try to get in there and make a statement,” said Torres, Guidepost Solutions’ president of security and technology consulting.
New York police have said Luigi Mangione was motivated by animus towards America’s healthcare system when he allegedly shot and killed Thompson on December 4. Before his death, the UnitedHealthcare executive voiced concerns that the company had an image problem.
Some corporations are being more proactive about security, recognising the risk of not taking safety seriously, other industry observers said.
“Litigation is, unfortunately, the fallout of poor security or at least perceived poor security,” said Ken Wheatley, a former chief security officer for Sony Electronics’ global operations who has testified as an expert witness in premise liability and negligent security lawsuits.
Corporate security spending has jumped precipitously, business filings show.
The technology giant Intel spent US$248,900 on the “incremental cost of residential security” for former chief executive Patrick Gelsinger in 2024, compared with US$1500 spent on his residential security in 2023, and US$1700 in 2022, company records show. Gelsinger, who stepped down on December 1, 2024, also had a car and security-trained driver.
Lockheed Martin said it “enhanced” security measures for its senior executives in 2024 to ensure their safety, though there had been risks “for well over a decade”, according to a May report. The aerospace and defence company spent US$1,194,805 on security for chief executive James Taiclet alone that year.
Several healthcare companies made significant investments in security last year.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck spent US$81,242 installing and maintaining residential, travel and home security for chief executive Robert Davis in 2024, compared with US$11,824 in 2023, and US$6689 in 2022, filings show.
And Centene Corporation said it spent US$69,133 on personal security for chief executive Sarah London last year, records show.
The company, which offers managed healthcare products and services primarily for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries, began to pay personal security costs for some executive officers in December.
UnitedHealth, where Thompson worked, spent US$253,827 on executive security for chief financial officer John Rex in 2024, and US$926,989 for Heather Cianfrocco, another executive, filings show. Records did not include a breakdown for executive security in 2023.