Booking photo by Luigi Mangione.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
New York prosecutors on Monday charged the Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione With murder UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian ThompsonCourt records show.
The charge came hours after Mangione, 26, was arraigned in a Pennsylvania courtroom on gun charges and other charges related to his arrest earlier Monday in a Pennsylvania court. McDonaldin Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a worker told police he was acting suspiciously.
Mangione has been accused before Manhattan District Attorney's Office He was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a silencer, and possession of a forged instrument in state court in Manhattan Monday night, according to a court record.
He is accused of shooting Thompson early Wednesday morning outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was heading to an investors meeting UnitedHealth Groupwho owned his business when a masked gunman shot him with a gun that appeared to be equipped with a silencer.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the shooter lurked for Thompson for several minutes before carrying out what she described as a “deliberate and pre-planned attack.”
Shell casings found at the scene had the words “delay,” “reject,” and “deposit” written on them. The first two of these words are sometimes used to describe health insurance companies' tactics, such as Thompson's, to limit the amount of benefits paid to customers.
UnitedHealthcare is the largest private health insurance company in the United States, with annual revenues of more than $200 billion.
the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations In October, a report was released that found that UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and CVS “each declined prior authorization applications for post-acute care at significantly higher rates than they did for other types of care, resulting in diminished access to care.” Post-acute conditions for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.” Medicare Advantage provides 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. His social media account X's profile contains an X-ray of a person's back with screws.
Thompson's family held a private funeral for him in Minnesota earlier Monday, where Mangione was taken into custody and questioned by Altoona police.
A backpack found on Mangione when he was confronted at the McDonald's restaurant contained a handgun, a silencer and several rounds of 9mm ammunition, police said.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (left) and person of interest Luigi Mangione (right).
Source: UnitedHealthcare(L) | NYPD (right)
Altoona police said that when Mangione removed his face mask at a McDonald's restaurant at their request, they immediately identified him as the person New York authorities were looking for in connection with Thompson's killing.
He was taken into custody after he gave officers a fake New Jersey ID believed to be the same one he used to check into a Manhattan motel in late November.
Mangione, who comes from a wealthy Baltimore-area family, is being held without bail in a Pennsylvania state prison on charges in that state related to the gun and the fake IDs he was carrying.
The suspect, who graduated in 2020 with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, at the time of his arrest was carrying a handwritten statement referencing the health care industry.
Photo of Luigi Mangione taken in a holding cell Monday provided by the Altoona Police Department.
Altoona Police Department
In a statement issued 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 read. “We are devastated by this news.”
Before his arrest Monday, police in New York did not know Mangione's identity even as they searched for a “person of interest” seen in surveillance images traveling to and from the scene of Thompson's killing.
These photos were widely circulated and were seen by the officers who arrested Mangione in Altoona.
Most of the photos showed someone wearing a mask or mask over their face. But two photos showed the man believed to be Mangione when he was at the hostel, and a worker there asked him to show her his face.
Authorities believe the gunman fled New York within hours of the shooting, possibly on a bus from the Port Authority Terminal in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan.
