When the first grainy images of the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect emerged, some viewers noticed a seemingly small detail: he looked like he was wearing a Peak Design Everyday V1 backpack. Now, on platforms like Threads and TikTok, a recurring accusation has circulated: Peak Design “traced” the bag owner using the backpack’s serial number.
However, the company says that’s just not true, in a statement published on Instagram and shared with The Verge Friday afternoon. “Peak Design has not provided customer information to the police and would only do so under the order of a subpoena,” the statement signed by CEO Peter Dering reads.
“We cannot associate a product serial number with a customer unless that customer has voluntarily registered their product on our site.” The statement goes on to say that the serial numbers on the V1 of the Everyday backpack “were not unique or identifying … We did not implement unique serial numbers until V2 iterations of our Everyday Backpack.”
So, how did we even get here?
In footage of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the shooter has a gray backpack with a top flap, which the NYPD believe is the same one they recovered in Central Park a few days later. The bag they eventually located is gray with black piping and what looks to be a tan-colored contrasting tab on the corner of the flap — just like Peak Design’s “Everyday” V1 model, which is no longer sold, but the design has enough fans that we’ve called it “the de facto tech journalist’s bag.”
Dering saw the similarities, too. He told The New York Times last week that the item was likely bought between 2016 and 2019. Dering told the Times that he called the NYPD tip line to share what he knew and vowed to do “whatever is possible” to identify the shooter, including consulting Peak Design’s legal team to see what he could share with police.
The Times story is just 300 words long but it appears to have sparked a wave of anger among those sympathetic to the suspect, Luigi Mangione. Despite the Times story’s lack of mention of a serial code, the rumor spread like wildfire before the company’s denial today.
On the Peak Design subreddit, which is moderated by the brand, posts have popped up discussing the company’s ability to track customers using the serial number on a bag and tips on how to delete customer information. The complaints largely center on the fact that Dering volunteered any information at all to police—a significant shift in public attitudes around a killing.
In a follow-up email to The Verge, Dering added: “If you do choose to register a Peak Design product, and it is lost or stolen, you can reach out to our customer service team and have your registration erased, so the bag is not traceable back to you.”