Police arrested a suspect in the brazen Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO after a McDonald’s customer in Altoona, Pennsylvania, spotted a man who officers found with a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, had a gun believed to be the one used in last Wednesday’s shooting of Brian Thompson, as well as writings suggesting anger with corporate America, police said.
Here’s the latest:
Mangione likely was motivated by his anger with what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain with corporate greed, said a a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
He wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and that the profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin, based on a review of the suspect’s hand-written notes and social media postings.
He appeared to view the targeted killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown, asserting in his note that he is the “first to face it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin said.
Mangione called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and may have found inspiration from the man who carried out a series of bombings while railing against modern society and technology, the document said.
A felony warrant filed in New York cites Altoona Officer Christy Wasser as saying she found the writings along with a semi-automatic pistol and an apparent silencer.
The filing echoes earlier statements from NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny who said Mangione had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America.”
Mangione is now charged in Pennsylvania with being a fugitive of justice.
A customer at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested said one of his friends had commented beforehand that the man looked like the suspect wanted for the shooting in New York City.
“It started out almost a little bit like a joke, my one friend thought he looked like the shooter,” said the customer, who declined to give his full name, on Tuesday.
“It wasn’t really a joke, but we laughed about it,” he added.
The warrant on murder and other charges is a step that could help expedite his extradition from Pennsylvania.
In court papers made public Tuesday, a New York City police detective reiterated key findings in the investigation he said tied Mangione to the killing, including surveillance footage and a fake ID he used to check into a Manhattan hostel on Nov. 24.
Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, found that ID when they arrested Mangione on Monday.
Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Late Monday, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione doesn’t yet have a lawyer who can speak on his behalf, court officials said.
Images of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police showed him pulling down his mask in the corner of the McDonald’s while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter jacket and ski cap. In another photo from a holding cell, he stood unsmiling with rumpled hair.
Mangione’s cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione, announced Tuesday morning that he’s postponing a fundraiser planned later this week at the Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore, which was purchased by the Mangione family in 1986.
“Because of the nature of this terrible situation involving my Cousin I do not believe it is appropriate to hold my fundraising event scheduled for this Thursday at Hayfields,” Nino Mangione said in a social media post. “I want to thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. My family and I are heartbroken and ask that you remember the family of Mr. Thompson in your prayers. Thank you.”
Officers used New York City’s muscular surveillance system. Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door to door looking for witnesses.
When an arrest came five days later, those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian’s instincts. A customer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos New York police had publicized.
He remains jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late Monday evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket.
It’s unclear whether Luigi Nicholas Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday’s arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.”
