Authorities arrested a suspect and charged him Monday with the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in Manhattan after a McDonald’s customer in Pennsylvania spotted a man officers found with a gun, a mask and writings linking him to the ambush.
The chance sighting in the Altoona restaurant led to a dramatic break in a tough but fast-paced investigation that has captivated the public in the five days since the shooting that shook the business world.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, owned a gun believed to be the one used in Brian Thompson’s shooting last Wednesday, as well as writings suggesting anger at businesses American, police said. .
On Monday evening, Manhattan prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Mangione, according to an online court filing. He remained imprisoned in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with possessing a firearm without a license, forgery, and providing false identification to police.
Mangione was sitting in the back of the McDonald’s, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to court documents. A customer saw him and an employee called 911, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry.
Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye said he and his partner immediately recognized the suspect when he pulled down his mask. “We just didn’t think twice about it.” We knew he was our guy,” he said.
When one of the officers asked him if he had been to New York recently, he “went silent and started shaking,” according to a criminal complaint based on their account of the arrest.
In his backpack, police found a black 3D-printed pistol and a black 3D-printed silencer, the complaint states. The gun had a metal slide and plastic grip with a threaded metal barrel. He was taken into custody around 9:15 a.m., police said.
Mangione wore clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter, as well as a fake New Jersey ID matching the one the suspect used to check into a New York inn before the shooting, said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, had ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted Monday evening on social media by his cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to Brian Thompson’s family and ask people to pray for everyone involved.”
Mangione was arraigned and held without bail during a brief court hearing. When asked if he needed a public defender, he asked if he could “answer that question at a later date.” He will ultimately be extradited to New York to face charges related to Thompson’s death, Kenny said.
Police found a three-page document containing writings suggesting Mangione had “ill will toward American businesses,” Kenny said.
The handwritten document “testifies to both his motivation and his state of mind,” Tisch said.
Altoona Deputy Police Chief Derek Swope would not qualify the writings except to say they were voluminous.
“They were very detailed, and everything we have is going to be turned over to the New York Police Department,” he told the Associated Press.
Mangione owned a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home from parts without serial numbers, making them difficult to trace, investigators said.
He also had a passport and $10,000 in cash, including $2,000 in foreign currency, the local prosecutor said. Mangione, who said Hawaii was his last address, disputed the amount.
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
UnitedHealth Group thanked law enforcement in a statement. “We hope that today’s arrest brings some relief to family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” a company spokesperson said.
The shooting shook U.S. businesses and the health insurance industry in particular, forcing them to rethink their security plans and remove photos of their executives from their websites.
The shooter appeared to “wait several minutes” before approaching the frame from behind and opening fire, police said.
Mangione attended an elite Baltimore prep school and graduated valedictorian in 2016, according to the school’s website. He then earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 at the University of Pennsylvania, a school spokesperson said.
One of his cousins is a Maryland state legislator, and his family bought a country club north of Baltimore in the 1980s. On Monday, police blocked an entrance to the property, which public records link to the suspect’s parents. A swarm of journalists and photographers gathered outside.
Mangione traveled from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh after the shooting and “was likely in various locations throughout the state,” said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.
“Based on everything we saw, he was very careful trying to keep a low profile, to avoid the cameras – not very successful in some cases, but it was certainly the effort he was making,” Bivens said.
In the days following the shooting, police asked for the public’s help by releasing a collection of nine photos and videos, including footage from the attack, as well as footage of the suspect at a Starbucks previously.
Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side showed the suspect smiling after removing his mask, police said.
On Monday, police credited the media for releasing the footage and the informant for recognizing the suspect and calling authorities.
Investigators had earlier suggested the shooter could be a disgruntled employee or customer of the insurer. Ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “drop,” mimicking a phrase used by critics of the insurance industry.
The shooter hid his identity with a mask during the shooting but left a trail of evidence, including a backpack he abandoned in Central Park, a cell phone found in a pedestrian plaza, and a bottle of water and a protein bar wrapper that police say he purchased at Starbucks. before the attack.
On Friday, police said the killer left town shortly after the shooting. Tracing the shooter’s steps using surveillance video, investigators say the shooter entered Central Park on a bicycle and exited the park without his backpack. He went to a bus station that offers commuter service to New Jersey and connections to the East Coast, police said.
