A 26-year-old man has been arrested in connection with last week's fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was taken into custody at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 280 miles (450 kilometers) west of New York City, on Monday after a customer at the fast food restaurant recognized the suspect.
A handwritten document was found in his possession indicating “motive and mentality,” according to police.
Mr. Mangione later appeared in a Pennsylvania court to be arraigned on five preliminary charges and was denied bail. The prosecutor said he expected to bring murder charges soon.
Mr. Mangione was formally charged Monday evening with forgery, carrying firearms without a license, tampering with records or identification cards, possession of tools of crime and providing false identification to police.
Murder charges from New York will be filed “tonight or tomorrow” or in the “near future,” said Pete Weeks, a prosecutor in Blair County, Pennsylvania.
Officials said Mangione stopped cooperating after his arrest.
Mangione appeared in court on Monday, handcuffed and wearing jeans and a dark blue shirt. He appeared calm in court, occasionally looking at those present, including the media.
New York City investigators used one of the world's largest digital surveillance systems, sniffer dogs, drones and divers in Central Park Lake to search for clues before the manhunt expanded to neighboring states.
But a McDonald's customer apparently recognized the suspect from media coverage and notified an employee, who notified authorities.
According to authorities in Pennsylvania, officers were called after a report of a “suspicious man” who resembled the suspect in Thompson’s murder.
When officers arrived at the fast food restaurant, Mangione showed them a fake New Jersey driver's license bearing the name Mark Rosario, court papers said.
The criminal complaint adds that he “became calm and began to shake” when an officer asked him if he had recently visited New York.
When he was told he would be arrested if he lied about his name, he admitted he was Luigi Mangione, according to court papers.
When asked why he lied, he told officers that “obviously I shouldn't have done it,” court papers state.
A search of his backpack revealed a black 3D printed printer, a 3D printed silencer, and a magazine loaded with six rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Earlier in the day, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the weapon and suppressant that investigators seized from the suspect were “compatible with the weapon used in the murder.”
Once any charges are filed in New York, Mr. Mangione will have the option of waiving or contesting his extradition.
If he waives this, he will be made immediately available to New York authorities. If it is contested, the process may take between 30 to 45 days.
New York's chief of detectives, Joseph Kenney, said a three-page handwritten document found in Mangione's possession indicated he had “ill faith toward American companies.”
Mr. Mangione was born and raised in Maryland and has ties to San Francisco, California, Mr. Kenney said.
Authorities believe he may have attended the University of Pennsylvania, but his last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii.
TrueCar confirmed to car buyers that he worked there but left in 2023.
As a teenager, Mangione attended a private boys' school in Maryland, where he was class valedictorian.
A LinkedIn account that appears to belong to him says he worked as a data engineer in California, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a teaching assistant and founded a video game development club.
Several posts on an account on
Thompson, 50, was fatally shot in the back last Wednesday morning outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan where UnitedHealthcare, the medical insurance giant he leads, was holding an investors meeting.
Police say he was targeted in a pre-planned killing.
The words “deny”, “defend” and “dismiss” were written on the shell casings found at the scene.
Investigators believe it could be a reference to what critics call the “Three Ps of Insurance” — tactics used by insurance companies to deny payment claims from patients in America's complex, mostly privately run health care system.
(Additional reporting by Kay Pigliucci and Mike Wendling)
