Many Americans have been voicing their anger with health companies after a gunman shot and killed an insurance CEO in New York City. Recently, a voice familiar to Idaho joined the conversation — though for a very different reason.

St. Luke’s Health System in 2022 sued Ammon Bundy, an associate of his and his People’s Rights Network for defamation after he organized protests over a child protection case, and then targeted St. Luke’s and some of its employees online and in public, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting.

The initial protests shut down the hospital briefly, and Bundy and his co-defendants lost the defamation case, with a jury awarding the plaintiffs more than $50 million in damages.

Since then, Bundy lost his Idaho house and property in Emmett and moved to Utah. In July, he filed for bankruptcy, saying that’s what God wanted for him.

The process has been marked by defiance from Bundy: Since losing, he has told the Statesman he owes St. Luke’s nothing, according to previous Statesman reporting.

And just this week, Bundy livestreamed a YouTube video during which he commented on the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, and called out the St. Luke’s CEO.

“I don’t condone it, but I completely understand now why that murder happened,” Bundy said on YouTube. “… I suppress those feelings every day.”

Bundy said he’d bet that the shooting came down to an individual being wronged by a corporation and the CEO, and then named St. Luke’s President and CEO Chris Roth.

“They think they’re gods,” Bundy said.

Bundy did not return a request from the Statesman for comment.

Thompson, 50, was shot and killed Wednesday in Manhattan in what police said was a “targeted attack,” according to The New York Times. His death has prompted criticism, dark humor and a lack of sympathy from many in the social media world who have felt left behind by the health system in the United States.

Erik Stidham, a lawyer representing St. Luke’s, said that Bundy was using the tragic event to “gin up” hate against those who have stood up to him, and also was making “false statements.”

“He’s shown a pattern of trying to assert pressure on St Luke’s and anybody else who stands up to him by making these public statements on social media in order to excite his followers,” Stidham told the Statesman by phone. “And invite them to harass and threaten.”

Bundy was arrested in 2022 for protesting outside of St. Luke’s in Meridian in a child protection case. That March a 10-month-old was separated from his parents after health authorities determined the child’s weight loss could threaten his life. The boy was returned to his parents after about a week, according to previous Statesman reporting.

The baby’s grandfather is Diego Rodriguez, a close associate of Bundy’s. St. Luke’s sued Bundy and Rodriguez, who operated a website filled with smears and false allegations, according to court records and previous Statesman stories.

Bundy and Rodriguez failed to appear in court and often did not respond to court orders, and ultimately they were found in default, according to previous reporting.

In the bankruptcy case, Stidham said Bundy is participating up until the point where he would have to go under oath and testify.

“He’s strategically not participating,” Stidham said. “He’s refusing to participate in the part of the process that requires him to have to present or justify these false statements he makes outside the courtroom.”

St. Luke’s itself did not return a request for comment.

©2024 The Idaho Statesman. Visit idahostatesman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.