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UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been killed in what investigators suspect was a targeted shooting outside a Manhattan hotel where the US health insurer was holding an investor conference.

The killing was a "brazen, targeted attack", New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Thompson, 50, was set to speak at an investor meeting when he was gunned down about 6.45am (8.45pm AEDT) on Wednesday outside the New York Hilton Midtown by a shooter who fled on foot and then took an e-bike into Central Park, according to the New York Police Department.

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Thompson was taken to a hospital but could not be saved. Police were still searching for the shooter as of late morning and no arrests had been made.

Though officials said the attack appeared to be targeted, they did not yet have a motive for the shooting.

Mayor Eric Adams said police were reviewing evidence from the scene, including video.

"It seems to be clearly targeted by an individual and we will apprehend that individual," Adams said.

UnitedHealthcare is the insurance arm of the health care giant UnitedHealth Group.

The Minnesota-based company was scheduled to have its annual meeting with investors in New York City to update Wall Street on the company's direction and expectations for the coming year, according to a company media advisory. An announcement was made to attendees Wednesday morning that the conference was ending early.

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The Hilton is in a bustling part of Manhattan, a short walk from tourist sites such as the Museum of Modern Art and Rockefeller Centre, and often dense with tourists and office workers on weekday mornings.

The popular Rockefeller Centre Christmas Tree lighting is set to take place on Wednesday evening (Thursday morning AEDT).

Part of the block where the shooting took place was cordoned off with police tape, with a large contingent of police officers at the scene. Many security cameras are nearby.

Thompson had served as CEO for more than three years and had been with the company since 2004.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tweeted that the state was "sending our prayers to Brian's family and the UnitedHealthcare team."

"This is horrifying news and a terrible loss for the business and health care community in Minnesota," the Democrat wrote.

UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the US and manages health insurance coverage for employers and state-and federally funded Medicaid programs.

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A learner driver from Queensland has been arrested and charged following a lengthy cross-border police chase down the M1.

Footage obtained exclusively by 9News shows the Nissan driving southbound on the M1 towards Byron Bay yesterday evening.

Three of the car's tires had been popped, but the car continued sparking down the road ahead of a column of police cars.

READ MORE: Teen acquitted of Emma Lovell's Boxing Day murder

Other drivers on the road kept clear.

Police allege 31-year-old Aaron John Mannell was behind the wheel.

Police allege he crossed the NSW-Queensland border, was driving dangerously at speeds close to 150km/h and failed to stop.

The chase was eventually brought to an end after police deployed road spikes.

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Mannel faced court today and pleaded guilty to several charges relating to dangerous driving.

He pleaded not guilty to refusing a breath test and driving under the influence.

A court heard he has a criminal record in Queensland, for dangerous driving occasioning death in 2019.

He was refused bail with the magistrate labeling him a significant risk to the community.

A man with a background in martial arts has bravely defended his neighbour from an alleged home invasion in Sydney's Inner West.

Kelly McInerney was inside her Canada Bay home when she spotted an allegedly intoxicated man jump into the backyard on Monday evening. 

The man then allegedly broke the side gate, kicked in a door and burst into the family's lounge room.

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He was allegedly armed with a plank of wood.

"He charged down here and started smashing," McInerney told 9News. 

The woman, her husband, her daughter and pet dog ran for help.

"The neighbour's daughter runs over and knocks on our door," neighbour John Totaro told 9News.

"I said, 'What's wrong, darling?' She said, 'Someone's broken into our house'."

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Another neighbour, Brian, who has a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu, heard the commotion and leapt into action. 

"He jumped over from the fence, like a commando," Totaro said.

"He just became this completely different person," McInerney said. 

Totaro said Brian went into the home, jumped on top of the man and wrestled him. 

Asked if the man resisted after being grappled, Totaro said the alleged intruder "didn't want a bar of it".

Police arrived moments later, arresting a 37-year-old from Ireland.

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It's understood he had been playing golf at Massey Park Golf Club before making his way to Canada Bay.

He has been charged with aggravated breaking and entering.

McInerney said community spirit had never been stronger.

"Knock on a door and say, 'Hey, I need someone', and they were there, so that's beautiful.

"That's exactly what neighbourhoods should be about."

The court sentencing a second teen involved in a home invasion that saw a mother-of-two murdered on Boxing Day has heard her family still fears spending the night in their house.

Emma Lovell, 41, was stabbed to death on the lawn outside her North Lakes home, north of Brisbane, in December 2022.

One of the youths pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 14 years detention in May.

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The other youth, now aged 19, faced Brisbane Supreme Court today for sentencing after being acquitted of murder or manslaughter, and of wounding of Lovell at a judge-only trial in October.

He was found guilty of burglary and the assault of her husband, Lee.

Lovell read from his victim impact statement but Justice Michael Copley said he would not be able to take into account any parts involving Emma Lovell's death.

"We made our home a place of love and protection … the actions of you and your co-offender took away our sense of safety," Lovell said.

"A night of unimaginable tragedy started when you decided to enter my home."

Lovell said he had installed extra security cameras and a security door but his family still felt a psychological impact.

"Sleep is a problem. I wake up thinking someone is inside my home," Lovell said.

Crown prosecutor David Nardone told Justice Copley the youth had 104 prior criminal charges on his record and he had committed offences while on community orders and probation.

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"His record is dominated by property related and dishonesty offending but includes violence in robberies and common assaults," Nardone said.

"The burglary and involvement in assault (at the Lovells' home) was committed the evening after being released on bail from a watch house."

Nardone said the youth had also pleaded guilty to 19 other offences mainly related to stealing alcohol from shops worth $2000 and wallets and vehicles from homes while in company and at night between September and December 2022.

Copley heard the youth had been in detention since the morning after the Lovell home invasion.

Defence barrister Laura Reece said her client should not face a further probation order after he had shown improvements while in detention.

"Almost two years in detention is sufficient punishment," she said.

Reece said psychological reports showed the youth had taken steps toward rehabilitation, was remorseful and had positive plans for the future.

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Copley said the youth had committed offences primarily to obtain money to fund his substance abuse and had been influenced by others, but that could not excuse his offending.

"I don't know if your statements of remorse are true or not. No longer breaking the law would be the best evidence," he said.

Copley said the only suitable punishment was a detention order.

"You repeatedly offended with no regard to others' property rights," he said.

The youth was sentenced to 18 months' detention with convictions recorded for the Lovell home invasion charges and another burglary.

He was not given a probation order and released with time served.

Police are appealing for the help of the public after two more school children were approached by men driving white vans in Melbourne's east in recent days.

A primary school aged boy was walking to school on Landscape Drive in Boronia about 8:30am yesterday when a man driving a white van pulled over and tried to coax the boy inside.

The van pulled over near Boronia Heights Primary School, but the boy walked away and school staff reported the matter to police.

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It came after less than 24 hours after a 15-year-old girl was approached by a man driving a white van on Saxon Street in Doncaster.

The girl was approached by the man about 9.40am on December 2, who asked her to get in the van, but she ran away to a nearby shopping centre. 

The attempted abductions add to multiple other child-snatching attempts across Melbourne in recent weeks.

Less than one week ago a 14-year-old girl was walking along Spring Street in Tullamarine when a man in a white van approached her about 5.45pm.

Leading Senior Constable Grace Botterill said the man, in a "determined" tone, asked the girl where she lived and urged her to get into his car.

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She refused and quickly walked to a nearby park where a group of people were standing.

That man is believed to be Middle Eastern in appearance, about 50-years-old, with a thick accent, grey hair, and driving a white van.

On November 18 an 11-year-old boy was approached by a man in a white van while he was walking home from school on Halley Street in Blackburn. 

Police said the boy was walking home from school along Halley Street in Blackburn about 3.45pm on November 18 when the van pulled onto the wrong side of the road and told the boy his mum had asked him to give him a lift home.

The boy refused and the van drove away.

At this stage it's not believed any of the incidents are linked.

Police are urging anyone in the area at the time of any of the incidents with dashcam or CCTV to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

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An obsessive man who killed a mother of five in a ferocious and premeditated attack has been sentenced to decades behind bars.

Clifford Arthur Neumann, 41, of Morphett Vale, stared at the floor as he was handed a minimum prison term of almost 23 years in the SA Supreme Court today for the murder of Victoria Stewart, 39.

Stewart was one of four women found dead in unrelated incidents across South Australia in a single week in November 2023, prompting the state government to order a royal commission into family, domestic and sexual domestic violence.

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Neumann and Stewart had met about 15 years ago when they were members of the same Jehovah's Witness congregation, and reconnected via Facebook in August 2023, Justice Laura Stein said.

He later told forensic psychologist Loraine Lim that he had hoped Stewart would leave her partner to be with him.

"However … you became increasingly suspicious that Ms Stewart was hiding things from you and was still in a relationship with (her partner)," Justice Stein said.

Dr Lim found there was likely to be a "direct nexus" between his "mild to medium level" autism, and developing an obsessive plan to kill Stewart, Justice Stein said.

"Dr Lim considered your restricted capacity for perspective-taking and empathy, as well as poor inherent understanding of human emotions and behaviours and an inability to appreciate social cues, most probably caused you to grossly misinterpret the changes in Ms Stewart's behaviour," she said.

When Stewart visited his home on November 19, he enacted a "clearly premeditated" plan to kill her with a steel bar.

"For the sake of Ms Stewart's family members … I will not describe what you told police you did to Ms Stewart, or the details of the pathology report or the scene that police later observed in the lounge room," Justice Stein said.

"The evidence establishes that you attacked Ms Stewart with ferocity … (it) was brutal and frenzied, and blows were delivered with terrible force."

"You carried out the attack on a defenceless woman who could do nothing to fend you off."

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After being "wracked with guilt and grief" for Stewart and her children, Neumann contacted police and told them he had done "a horrible thing" and was sorry.

Neumann's autism diagnosis was relevant but did not significantly reduce his moral culpability or moderate the need for denunciation or deterrence, Justice Stein said.

"You knew you were planning to do a bad and horrible thing, you knew the consequences," she said.

The judge accepted Lim's assessment that Neumann had prospects for rehabilitation, including his insight into the unforgivable impact of his conduct, his guilty plea, his generally non-confrontational personality, lack of any traits of antisocial personality disorder, and intelligence.

The judge acknowledged the "extremely moving" victim impact statements from Ms Stewart's mother, brother, sister, daughters, partner and former husband.

"They spoke of their deep grief, anguish and bewilderment at your actions," she said.

"Your actions have inflicted an unimaginable, profound suffering which I cannot adequately capture in a few short sentences."

Justice Stein said the murder of a person in a relationship context was "abhorrent and deserving of the greatest level of denunciation".

With a 15 per cent sentence discount for his early guilty plea, Neumann's 27-year non-parole period was reduced to 22 years, 11 months and 13 days.

Outside court, Stewart's brother, Douglas Jones, said the family was "pretty happy" with the sentence.

"I appreciate the judge took everything into consideration, it felt like a little bit of justice in a pretty poor situation.

He said his sister was "the best of us".

"She was caring, loved her kids. I am very proud of who she was. I just miss her," he said.

Stewart's daughter, Tara Songer, said the jail term was "never going to be enough".

"No matter how high or low, the pain and suffering that me, my siblings, my family, my mother's friends … have all encountered, it was never going to be enough to justify that pain," she said.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

A school principal and the director of a building company have been charged for allegedly stealing almost $1.4 million intended for schools in Sydney.

Police began a major investigation, with assistance from the NSW Department of Education, into the alleged mismanagement of funds meant for maintenance and building at schools in Guildford and Revesby in April.

Sir Joseph Banks High School Principal Rabieh Gharibeh and contractor Ahmed Charchouh were arrested this morning on accusations they worked to facilitate fraudulent claims.

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Both men are alleged to be known to each other. 

Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja alleged the men fraudulently claimed almost $1.4 million from the Department of Education through 86 separate invoices between August 2022 and November 2024.

"The senior employee had financial delegation up to $150,000 so police will allege that he abused that financial delegation and that position of financial trust," he said.

"The activity that police are alleging is between August 2022 and November this year and the senior employee was employed at both of those schools during that time."

Arbinja said the $1.4 million allegedly stolen was distributed between the pair, with $900,000 going to Gharibeh and $500,000 to Charchouh.

"The invoices were either split, so they could get under a certain financial delegation for under $150,000," he said.

"They would raise purchase orders before works were even done, and backdated invoices were sometimes paid prior to the works.

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"Some invoices were submitted and no works were ever done. If works were ever done, they were at a highly inflated price."

The NSW Department of Education said it takes these matters very seriously. 

"The Department of Education upholds high professional and ethical standards and takes any allegation of criminal activity extremely seriously," a spokesperson said.

"It would be inappropriate to comment on a matter before the courts."

Early this morning, officers stormed properties in Georges Hall and Yagoona and the school in Revesby.

They seized $42,400 in cash, a ballistics vest and luxury watches.

Gharibeh and Charchouh were both arrested and taken to Bankstown Police Station, where they were each charged with 60 offences.

As a result of their arrests, Arbinja said police were able to stop $165,000 worth of alleged fraud from going through.

Detectives are now working to recover as much of the allegedly defrauded $1.4 million as possible.

Investigations are continuing and more arrests are expected to be made. 

The two men faced Bankstown Local Court today.

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The magistrate denied Charchouh's application for bail saying there was an unacceptable risk for contamination of evidence, describing the alleged fraud as a "chronic, sustained criminal enterprise".

Gharibeh did not apply for bail.

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‘This is a court of law, it’s not a court of morals,’ the man’s lawyer told a court.