How police arrested suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s fatal shooting

High-tech drones were deployed, hundreds of hours of video were examined and cutting-edge tools scrutinized a “tremendous amount” of forensic evidence. But when an arrest was made in connection with the high-profile killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, it came down to “good old fashioned police work,” authorities said.

Five days after Thompson was brazenly shot to death on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk, Luigi Mangione, 26, was identified as a “person of interest” in the homicide that New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, “captured the attention of the entire nation.”

Mangione, a former high school valedictorian with no known criminal record, was arrested Monday morning at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh, after an employee recognized him at from surveillance photos of the shooter released by the New York Police Department. called 911.

A criminal complaint filed Monday evening by Pennsylvania prosecutors said Mangione was wearing a blue surgical mask and was sitting in the back of the McDonald’s looking at a laptop when two police officers approached him at 9:14 a.m. and asked to lower his mask. Mangione complied and allegedly gave officers an ID that they confirmed was fake when they took it to their dispatch center, according to court documents.

The officers, who recognized the man from a photo of the homicide suspect in an NYPD notice, asked Mangione if he had been in New York recently, according to the complaint.

“The male became silent and began shaking,” the complaint states.

When officers confronted Mangione about the fake ID, he gave his real name and date of birth, according to the newspapers. One of the officers, according to the complaint, asked “why he lied,” prompting Mangione to respond, “I clearly shouldn’t have.”

Mangione was later charged with five felonies, including carrying a firearm without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to authorities and possessing “instruments of crime,” according to a criminal complaint.

He has not yet been charged with Thompson’s murder, Tisch said, although he was reclassified from “person of interest” to suspect Monday evening.

While searching Mangione’s backpack, officers allegedly found a black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer, also 3D-printed, according to the criminal complaint.

“The pistol contained a Glock magazine loaded with six all-metal nine-millimeter rounds. There was also one nine-millimeter hollow point round,” the complaint alleges.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny described the gun allegedly found on Mangione as a “ghost gun,” meaning it had no serial number and was untraceable.

Mangione – who grew up in Maryland and later lived in San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii – has been charged with gun possession, in addition to other charges, but has not yet been charged with Thompson’s murder, Tisch said.

Mangione — who grew up in Maryland and later lived in San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii — was also in possession of a three-page handwritten document that Tisch said “speaks both to his motivation and state of mind.

Kenny added that the document contained writings that expressed “some ill will toward American companies.”

Several fraudulent IDs were found on Mangione, along with a U.S. passport, Tisch said.

“A fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the one our suspect used to check into his New York hostel prior to the shooting was also found,” Tisch said.

Kenny said that before Mangione’s arrest, police did not identify him by name.

Tisch said that during the investigation, police deployed drones, K-9 units and underwater divers. She added that investigators also relied heavily on the expertise and technology of the FBI, in addition to its own intelligence and counterterrorism offices, to help solve the case.

“For just over five days, our NYPD investigators combed through thousands of hours of video, tracked hundreds of tips, and processed every piece of forensic evidence, DNA, fingerprints, IP addresses and more to tighten the net,” Tisch said. . “Our detectives also went door to door interviewing potential witnesses and doing the good old-fashioned police work that our investigators are known for.”

The commissioner added: “This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what has led to this result today. »

Thompson’s murder occurred around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday outside the Hilton Hotel in New York, where the executive was scheduled to attend a shareholders meeting.

The gunman, who wore a mask and hooded jacket, was captured on surveillance video ambushing Thompson from behind in what investigators described as a “brazen, targeted shooting.”

Kenny said the big breakthrough in the investigation came a few hours into the investigation, when police obtained a surveillance photo of the suspect at a Starbucks on West 56th Street and 6th Avenue, near the New York Hilton.

“There are many key elements in this case, in the fact that we recovered a huge amount of forensic evidence, a huge amount of video. So, I really couldn’t attribute it to just one element. But If I had to do it, it would.” will be the release of this photo,” Kenny said. “We took this photo and we asked for the public’s help in identifying this subject, and the public responded.”

Kenny said detectives spent hundreds of hours going through “every source of video we could collect.” Using video, detectives were able to track the killer from the scene of the shooting as he fled on foot and bicycle through Midtown Manhattan, Central Park and upper Manhattan. Detectives even obtained video of him shortly after arriving in the city on a bus.

Police later released clearer images of the suspect, including one in which he showed his face as he checked into a hostel in northern Manhattan, and a close-up photo of him in the back of a taxi wearing a mask.

“The footage we shared with the public was widely distributed and the information we received helped recover crucial evidence,” Tisch said, acknowledging the “instrumental role of the media and the public in this case.”

Tisch added: “We should never underestimate the power of the public, who are our eyes and ears in these investigations.”

She said it was the third time in as many weeks that a public tip led to an arrest in a high-profile case, including a triple stabbing homicide in Manhattan and a series of robberies at gunpoint. a gun in Queens, during which a police officer was shot.

Kenny said the investigation is far from over as detectives continue to look into whether the shooter received help.

“We believe at this point our investigation leans toward the fact that he acted alone,” Kenny said.

Looking ahead, Tisch said, “We will work on extradition to bring him back to New York to face charges, working with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.”