What we know about suspect in killing of UnitedHealth executive
Authorities have arrested the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson in a brazen shooting outside a Manhattan hotel last week, New York City officials said on Monday, ending a massive five-day manhunt.
The suspect, identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was spotted eating at a McDonald's by an employee of the fast food restaurant who believed he resembled the gunman, officials said at a news conference.
Mangione was led into the Blair County courthouse in Altoona for his arraignment on Monday night, where gun and forgery charges were read against him. The judge asked Mangione if he understood the charges against him, and he said he did. No plea was entered.
Prosecutors, citing false IDs and a large sum of cash found on Mangione, argued he was a flight risk and asked that bail be denied, which it was.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said he expected Mangione to face charges in New York shortly.
Mangione was found with a "ghost gun" - a firearm assembled from parts, making it untraceable - and a silencer consistent with the weapon used to shoot Thompson, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, as well as clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the killer.
The charging document against Mangione stated that the ghost gun was produced by a 3D printer.
Here is what is known about Mangione:
WHAT POLICE SAY
Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, went to college in Pennsylvania and is thought to have had "ill will toward corporate America" based on a document found on him, according to Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York police.
Mangione has ties to San Francisco, lived in Honolulu until recently and is believed to have acted on his own, Kenny said.
He has no known criminal record in New York, Kenny said.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
A person with the same name was the 2016 valedictorian of the private, all-boys Gilman School in Baltimore. The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New York Times reported Gilman sent an email on Monday to alumni in which principal Henry Smyth said, "This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation." The University of Pennsylvania said a person named Luigi Mangione graduated in 2020 with a master of science in engineering, majoring in computer and information science.
Stanford University said a person by the same name was employed as a head counselor under the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies program between May and September of 2019.
WORK
Luigi Mangione worked for TrueCar until 2023, according to a spokesperson for the car retail site.
A fellow software engineer at TrueCar said Mangione helped him write particularly difficult code. "There has to be a mistake. The Luigi I know is a super kind guy," said the former colleague, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid attention on social media. "All I remember is a very sweet guy. Always ready to help people. Very smart."
ONLINE PRESENCE
A Facebook profile for a Luigi Mangione identifies him as being from Towson, Maryland. Local media said his family owned a country club and radio station in the Baltimore area and his cousin was Maryland House of Delegates member Nino Mangione. The legislator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A banner on a Mangione's X page, which says he lives in Honolulu, includes an X-ray image of what appears to be screws and plates inserted into someone's lower back.
X posts from two years ago include critiques of artificial intelligence, reposts of commentaries against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and remarks on how smartphones harm children and the damage caused by commercial agriculture.
A 2022 post discusses his senior high school speech on topics ranging from AI to human immortality. The posts seem to question some of the technology Mangione appeared in awe of in high school.
On Goodreads, a Luigi Mangione praises Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's book "Industrial Society and Its Future" as "prescient" about modern society.
Calling Kaczynski an "extreme political revolutionary," the poster quotes another online commentator's observation of the Unabomber that "when all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive." The post also criticized fossil fuel companies, saying "violence against those who lead us to such destruction is justified as self-defense."
