Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York last week, was arrested by police on Monday and charged with murder. Mangione was arrested Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after employees and customers recognized him from a wanted poster. A five-day manhunt ensued after Mr Mangione shot and killed Mr Thompson, who was walking on the sidewalk outside New York's Hilton Hotel as he was scheduled to speak at a shareholder meeting last week (December 4).
When approached by Altoona police on Monday, Mangione was asked to remove his face covering, and police identified him as the suspect in Thompson's murder. He also gave them a fake ID and a fake name, and when asked if he had been to New York recently, he “began to go silent and tremble.”
According to fox newsMr Mangione had written several articles criticizing the medical industry and was said to be in possession of a ghost gun similar to the one allegedly used against Mr Thompson. Officers initially charged him with unlicensed possession of a firearm, providing false identification to police and forgery, but New York City prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder.
He was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon (loaded firearm), possession of a counterfeit instrument, and criminal possession of a weapon (firearm silencer).
Mangione's cousin, Maryland State Representative Nino Mangione, issued a statement Monday night saying his family was “shocked and devastated” by his arrest and could not comment on the case. .
“We only know what we read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest,” the statement said.
The Mangione family also said they were praying for Thompson's family and asked people to pray for everyone involved.
“We are devastated by this news,” the statement concludes.
Mangione, 26, graduated at the top of his class from Baltimore's elite Gilman School in 2016. valedictorian's speech At his graduation ceremony. He then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering and was a member of the Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society for Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“He seemed like a smart kid and always seemed to do the right thing,” a former classmate shocked by the arrest told Fox News Digital on Monday. “I wasn't crazy.”
According to new york postSeveral friends who went to Gilman with Mangione said Mangione had back surgery in the months before the shooting, and his face turned black and he was said to have gone “insane.”
R.J. Martin, Hawaii's former friend and roommate, told CNN, “I remember the first time we interviewed him before he moved, he said he had back problems and wanted to get stronger in Hawaii. “I'm working on it,” he said.
He said Mangione's experience was so “traumatic and difficult” that he was bedridden for a week after just taking basic surfing lessons. Martin also said Mangione sent him X-rays from when he underwent surgery.
“It looked brutal, just a giant screw in the spine,” he said.
Other high school friends said Mangione was “completely insane” after the surgery, said Jack Mack, a staffer at Barstool Sports, a sports and pop culture publication.
“I spoke to a source who has a number of friends who went to high school with Luigi Mangione. One of the things that keeps coming up is the back surgery that 'changed everything' for him and left him 'completely insane.' I lost it,” Mack said. I wrote With X.
We spoke to a number of sources who are friends with Luigi Mangione, who went to high school with him.
What followed was a back surgery that “changed everything” for him and left him “completely insane.”
Check out his GoodReads history and header X-ray. pic.twitter.com/dsrXMQcqB2
— Jack Mac (@JackMacCFB) December 9, 2024
Photo credit: ©Jeff Swensen/Stringer
