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Reserve photo by Luigi Mangione.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
New York prosecutors on Monday charged Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, court records show.
The charge came hours after Mangione, 26, was arraigned in a Pennsylvania court on firearms and other charges related to his arrest early Monday in a McDonald’sHe is in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a worker told police he was acting suspiciously.
Mangione was accused by Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a silencer and possession of a forged instrument in Manhattan state court Monday night, according to a court filing.
He is accused of shooting Thompson to death early Wednesday outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was heading to an investor meeting to UnitedHealth Groupowner of his business, when a masked gunman shot him with a gun that appeared to have a silencer.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the shooter waited several minutes for Thompson before executing what she called a “premeditated and pre-planned targeted attack.”
Shell casings found at the scene had the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” written on them. The first two words are sometimes used to describe tactics by health insurers, like Thompson’s, to limit the amount of benefits paid to customers.
UnitedHealthcare is the largest private health insurer in the United States, with more than $200 billion in annual revenue.
He United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in October released a report that found that UnitedHealthcare, Humana and CVS “denied prior authorization requests for post-acute care at rates much higher than for other types of care, resulting in diminished access to post-acute care for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. “Medicare Advantage offers health benefits under the federal Medicare program administered by private insurance companies.
Mangione, whose sister is a doctor, has reportedly suffered from chronic back pain for years. Your account profile on the social media account X contains an X-ray image of a person’s back with screws.
Thompson’s family held a private funeral for him in Minnesota early Monday, while Mangione was being detained and questioned by Altoona police.
Police said a backpack Mangione was carrying when he was confronted at the McDonald’s was found to contain a handgun, a silencer and multiple rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Brian Thompson (left), CEO of UnitedHealthcare, and Luigi Mangione (right), person of interest.
Source: UnitedHealthcare (L) | NYPD (R)
Altoona police said that when Mangione removed his mask at the McDonald’s at their request, they immediately recognized him as the person wanted by New York authorities in connection with Thompson’s murder.
He was detained after giving agents a fake New Jersey ID believed to be the same one he used to check into a Manhattan shelter in late November.
Mangione, who comes from a wealthy Baltimore-area family, is being held without bail in a Pennsylvania jail on charges in that state related to the gun and fake IDs he was carrying.
The suspect, who graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, was carrying a handwritten manifesto referencing the healthcare industry at the time of his arrest.
Photo of Luigi Mangione taken in a holding cell on Monday courtesy of the Altoona Police Department.
Source: Altoona Police Department
In a statement released after his arrest in Pennsylvania, Mangione’s family said: “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”
“We offer our prayers to Brian Thompson’s family and ask people to pray for everyone involved,” the statement said. “We are devastated by this news.”
Before his arrest on Monday, the NYPD did not know Mangione’s identity, even as they searched for a “person of interest” who appeared on surveillance footage traveling to and from the scene of Thompson’s murder.
Those images were widely publicized and were seen by the officers who arrested Mangione in Altoona.
Most of the images showed a person with a mask or gaiter over their face. But two images showed the man believed to be Mangione when he was at the shelter, and a worker there asked him to show her his face.
Authorities believe the gunman fled New York a few hours after the shooting, possibly on a bus from the Port Authority terminal in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan.
