President-elect Donald Trump on Monday referenced the assassination-style murder of a health insurance executive, calling viral support for the murder that has surfaced online a “sickness.”
The president-elect, who has deep roots in New York City, called the ambush shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “in cold blood” at a news conference Monday, a week after police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, arrested a 26-year-old man. It's scary,” he said. former University of Pennsylvania alumnus Luigi Mangione;
“I think it's really terrible that some people seem to admire him the way he does,” Trump said. “It was a cold-blooded, just a cold-blooded, horrific murder.”
United Healthcare CEO assassination suspect makes bold comparison
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on October 15, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Mangione, an Ivy League computer programmer from a wealthy Maryland family, allegedly followed Thompson to a Manhattan hotel and shot her in the back with a 3D-printed handgun.
Days before police identified Mangione as the suspect, they shared surveillance photos taken at a New York City hostel where Mangione was said to have been staying before the murder. The image showed a man grinning while flirting with a young woman working at the counter during check-in.
The image was widely circulated online, as efforts were underway to identify him across state lines, and as critics in the health insurance industry praised the crime.
Former WAPO reporter says “I want the death penalty for executives'' after killing insurance CEO
Luigi Mangione screams while being restrained by police as he arrives for his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. (David Dee Delgado, Fox News Digital)
“Why do people like this guy? It's actually a disease,” President Trump said Monday.
He was particularly appalled by the method of killing, which involved shooting him from behind.
Surveillance video taken outside the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, where UnitedHealthcare was preparing to invite shareholders and other investors to its annual conference, shows Thompson about an hour and 15 minutes before the event began. He was seen walking away.
Despite the violence, many online commentators praised the appearance of the unmasked suspect and the attack on the health insurance industry.
Online fundraising sites have suspended efforts to raise money for his legal defense. His image appeared in a viral meme. Radical commentators praised the killing and blamed the witnesses who spotted him at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania and called 911.
As a result, the restaurant, its employees, and local police have all received a series of death threats, and other major health care companies have also removed portraits and biographical information of company leaders from their websites.
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A masked man came out from behind him, shot him in the back and walked away, while a horrified woman who witnessed the murder fled in the opposite direction.
Luigi Mangione, the suspected gunman in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was seen on surveillance footage flirting with a hostel employee before the Dec. 4 shooting. . (New York City Police Department)
Mr. Mangione faces numerous charges in New York and Pennsylvania, including second-degree murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and possession of false identification.
His lawyers told a Pennsylvania judge last week that they intend to fight extradition to New York.
