New York officials have filed second degree murder charges against 26-year-old Luigi Mangione for the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The charges were filed late Monday, WABC reported.
Mangione was also charged with possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a forged instrument, and criminal possession of a weapon, court dockets say. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed the charges and said that records detailing them will be unsealed when Mangione appears in court.
Magione was arrested Sunday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and awaits extradition to New York. An employee at the fast food restaurant recognized him from the photos released by New York police and called 911.
A criminal complaint in Pennsylvania charged him with carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to authorities, and possessing “instruments of crime.” The documents said he was carrying a “ghost gun” — a homemade or otherwise privately made weapon.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said after the arrest that the gun and suppressor found with Mangione were “consistent with the weapon used in the murder.”
Thompson was shot at about 6:44 a.m. on December 4 as he walked from his hotel to the New York Midtown Hilton, where his company — the largest health insurer in the world — was holding its annual investors conference. The gunman appeared to be waiting for Thompson’s arrival, and came up behind him, opening fire. The shooter then fled to an alley, where he hopped on a bike and escaped through Central Park.
Police believe he made his way to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal and took a bus out of the city. That bus, according to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, was traveling from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh with stops in between, including Altoona, 276 miles from New York City and where Mangione got off.
Mangioni walked into a nearby McDonald’s were officers responded to a report of a “suspicious male who resembled the male from a recent shooting in New York from December.”
Arriving officers found Mangione wearing a mask and a beanie. The officers “immediately recognized him” after asking him to lower the mask. The suspect provided them with a New Jersey driver’s license identifying him as Mark Rosario. When an officer asked if he had recently been in New York City, Mangioni “became quiet and started to shake.”
Mangione later admitted the ID was fake and provided his real name. Police said he had several fake IDs on him at the time of his arrest, and the New Jersey ID matched the one he used when he checked into a New York hostel on his arrival in the city on November 24, according to Tisch
Officers located a 3D-printed pistol, 3D-printed silencer, a loose hollow point round, and a Glock magazine with six 9mm full metal jacket rounds.
Tisch said that Mangione also had a 3-page, handwritten manifesto “that speaks to his motivation and mindset,” according to CBS News.
“We don’t think that there’s any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
“These parasites had it coming,” the document said, according to source who spoke with ABC News, and “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.”
In a court appearance in Pennsylvania late Monday, Mangione disputed two claims in the criminal complaint, CNN reported. He said that prosecutor’s claims that the bag he was carrying was a Faraday bag that blocks cell phone signals, proving that he was a sophisticated criminal, were incorrect and that he didn’t know where the $10,000 found on him came from.
“‘I’d like to correct two things,’” Mangione said. “‘I don’t know where any of that money came from—I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication.’”
He was ordered held without bail.
CBS News reported that Mangione was originally from Maryland and is related to a prominent family with extensive real estate holdings. The family also founded at least one healthcare organization. His cousin is Maryland state Delegate Nino Mangione, who represents parts of Baltimore County.
He was the valedictorian in 2016 at Maryland’s Gilman School and graduated the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. He had bachelors and masters degrees in engineering and science. Mangione’s last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii, New York Chief of Detectives Josephy Kenny said, but the community where he lived said he last lived there in 2022.
Members of that community, Surfbreak, said he was experiencing extensive back pain during that time — and his Twitter.com account featured an X-ray of a spine with hardware attached, although it’s not known if that image is the suspect’s own spine.
Mangione’s family declined a comment about the suspect but said they were “shocked a devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” the statement said. “We are devastated by this news.”
UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, also provided a statement saying they hope “that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy.”
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[Featured image: Luigi Mangione/Pennsylvania Department of Corrections]
