NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione, suspect in the assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare outside a New York hotel, is now charged with murder, according to court documents.
The New York City Police Department and Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday the 26 year old was taken into custody earlier today on counterfeiting and illegal weapons charges in Pennsylvania. At the time, he was still considered a person of interest in the case.
“He matches the description of the identification we were seeking. He is also in possession of several items that we believe will connect him to this incident,” Adams said Monday. “How did we do it? Good old-fashioned police work.”
The murder charge starts the extradition process to New York that could take days or even weeks. Police believe Mangione had traveled to Pennsylvania in the days after Thompson’s death, from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to Altoona, where he was recognized earlier Monday by a customer.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said an informant called police after seeing a man who looked like the suspect in a McDonald’s.
“The suspect was at a McDonald’s and was recognized by an employee who then called local police. Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was behaving suspiciously and carrying several fraudulent IDs, as well as ‘an American passport,’ she said. “Upon further investigation, officers located a firearm on him, as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder. They also recovered clothing, including a mask, consistent with those warned by our wanted person.
“In addition, agents recovered a handwritten document that testifies to both his motivation and his state of mind,” Tisch added.
NYPD officials described the weapon as a possible “ghost gun“, and said that the written document was three pages long.
Tisch said Mangione was also found in possession of the same fake New Jersey ID card that person of interest used to check into a hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he was seen on surveillance footage without mask. He was later seen at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Washington Heights and allegedly boarded a bus there after the shooting.
UnitedHealthcare CEO shot dead in Manhattan
BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images/United Health Group
Thompson, 50, was shot by a masked shooter on December 4 in front of the Hilton Midtown hotel, where UnitedHealthcare was scheduled to hold its annual investor conference.
The New York Police Department called it a “premeditated, planned and targeted attack” and launched an intense manhunt. Police offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, and the FBI later upped the ante to $50,000.
Investigators quickly began to piece together a timeline of the shooting, including the suspect’s movements and escape route. The next day, police released footage of a person wanted for questioning as they focused on the hostel where he was staying.
NYPD
The police had numerous clues from the start of the investigation. They were able to trace the suspect’s movements before the shooting and his escape on a bicycle through Central Park.
Investigators spent days searching the park and found a backpack containing a jacket and Monopoly money, but it did not contain the murder weapon. Dive teams in scuba gear continued to comb a pond near the park’s Bethesda Fountain for a gun.
CBS News
Police also found spent cartridges at the scene that had “delay” and “refuse” carefully written on it. Investigators believe these words were related to a reference made by critics of the health insurance industry.
Officers also recovered a cell phone at the scene, as well as a bottle of water and a candy bar wrapper that the suspect allegedly left at a Starbucks before the shooting.
During this time, investigators looked into every aspect of Thompson’s life in an attempt to find a motive.
“They’re going to look at the business side, you have a company that laid people off. They’re going to look at the personal stories and they’re going to focus on the letters, the desperate people who were denied care or tests or something who could have saved a life or who would blame the company,” said former NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller.
Thompson, a married, father of two children, had been in New York for two days before he was murdered. His wife, Paulette, spoke of the family’s loss.
“Brian was a wonderful person with a big heart who lived life to the fullest,” she said. “He will be greatly missed by everyone. Our hearts are broken and we are completely devastated by this news.”
Check back soon for the latest updates on this developing story.
Pat Milton contributed to this report.
