ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) – Authorities arrested a suspect and charged him with murder Monday in the brutal slaying of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in Manhattan after a quick-thinking McDonald’s customer in Pennsylvania spotted a man who officers found with a gun, mask and writings calling him linked each other to the ambush.
The chance sighting at the Altoona restaurant led to a dramatic break in a challenging but fast-moving investigation that has captivated the public in the five days since the shooting that shook the business world.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, had a gun believed to have been used in the shooting of Brian Thompson last Wednesday, as well as writings suggesting anger at corporate America, police said. .
On Monday, Manhattan prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Mangione, according to an online court docket. He remained imprisoned in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with possession of 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 about it much. We knew this was our guy,” he said.
When one of the officers asked if he had been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started shaking,” according to a criminal complaint based on their account of the arrest.
In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed handgun and a 3D-printed black silencer, the complaint said. The pistol had a metal slide and a plastic handle with a threaded metal barrel. According to police, he was arrested around 9:15 am.
Mangione had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the gunman and a fraudulent New Jersey ID that matched the one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch .
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, with 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 that his cousin, Maryland Assemblymember Nino Mangione, posted on social media late Monday. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for everyone involved.”
Mangione was charged during a brief court hearing and held without bail. When asked if he needed a public defender, he asked if he could “answer that in the future.” He will eventually be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson’s death, Kenny said.
Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.
The handwritten document “speaks to both his motivation and his mentality,” Tisch said.
Altoona Deputy Police Chief Derek Swope would not characterize the writings other than to say they were voluminous.
“They were very detailed and everything we have will be turned over to the NYPD,” he told The Associated Press.
Mangione had 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 most recent 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. “Our hope is that today’s concerns will bring some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” a company spokesperson said.
The shooting shocked American companies, particularly the health insurance industry, causing companies to rethink security plans and remove photos of executives from their websites.
The gunman appeared to “lurk for several minutes” before approaching the director from behind and opening fire, police said.
Mangione attended an elite prep school in Baltimore and graduated as valedictorian in 2016, according to the school’s website. He then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020, a school spokesperson said.
One of his cousins is a Maryland state lawmaker and his family bought a country club north of Baltimore in the 1980s. On Monday, police blocked access to the property, whose public records include a link to the suspect’s parents. A swarm of reporters and photographers gathered outside.
Mangione went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh after the shooting and was likely “in various locations around the state,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said.
“Based on everything we saw, he was very careful in his efforts to remain inconspicuous and avoid cameras – in some cases not very successful, but that was certainly the effort he made,” Bivens said.
In the days after the shooting, police asked the public for help by releasing a collection of nine photos and videos — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect beforehand in a Starbucks.
Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.
On Monday, police credited news media for spreading the images and the tipster for recognizing the suspect and calling authorities.
Investigators previously suggested the shooter may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer. Ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “impeach,” mimicking a phrase used by critics of the insurance industry.
The gunman hid his identity with a mask during the shooting but still left a trail of evidence, including a backpack he dumped in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza and a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that police say he minutes at Starbucks. before the attack.
On Friday, police said the killer left town shortly after the shooting. Investigators tracked the gunman’s steps using surveillance video and say the gunman rode into Central Park on a bicycle and emerged from the park without his backpack. He headed to a bus station that offers shuttles to New Jersey and routes to the East Coast, police said.
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