The Latest: UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect charged with murder in New York
Police arrested suspect in cheeky Manhattan assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO after a McDonald’s customer in Altoona, Pennsylvania, spotted a man who officers found with a gun, a mask and writings linking him to the ambush.
Luigi Nicolas Mangionea 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, owned a gun believed to be the one used in last Wednesday’s shooting. Brian Thompsonas well as writings suggesting anger at corporate America, police said.
Here is the last one:
He shouted something that was partly unintelligible, but called it an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
He is there for an arraignment on local charges stemming from his arrest Monday.
He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit as officers led him from a vehicle to the courthouse.
Local defense attorney Thomas Dickey is expected to represent the 26-year-old at a hearing Tuesday afternoon at the Blair County Courthouse. Dickey declined to comment before the hearing.
Mangione could have the charges in Pennsylvania read aloud and he could be asked to plead guilty.
They include possessing a firearm without a license, forgery and providing false identification to police. In New York, he was charged Monday evening with the murder of CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson.
Mangione was likely motivated by his anger at what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and his disdain for corporate greed, said a law enforcement bulletin obtained by the Associated Press.
He wrote that the United States has the most expensive health care system in the world and that big business profits continue to rise while “our life expectancy” is not increasing, according to the report card, based on a review handwritten notes from the suspect and posts on social media.
He appears to view the targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO as a symbolic killing, saying in his memo that he is the “first to address it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin said.
Mangione called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and may have taken inspiration from the man who carried out a series of bombings while attacking modern society and technology , indicates the document.
An arrest warrant filed in New York cites Altoona Officer Christy Wasser as saying she found the writings with a semi-automatic pistol and an exposed silencer.
The filing echoes earlier statements by 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 accused in Pennsylvania of being a fugitive from justice.
A customer at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., where Mangione was arrested, said a friend of his had previously said the man looked like the suspect wanted in the New York shootings.
“It almost started as a joke, my only friend thought he looked like the shooter,” the customer, who declined to give his full name, said Tuesday.
“It wasn’t really a joke, but we laughed about it,” he added.
The arrest warrant for murder and other charges is a measure that could help speed up his extradition from Pennsylvania.
In court documents released Tuesday, a New York City police detective reiterated key findings of the investigation that he said linked Mangione to the murder, including surveillance footage and a fake ID which he used to check into a Manhattan hostel on November 24.
Police officers in Altoona, Pa., found that ID when they arrested Mangione on Monday.
Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possessing a firearm without a license, forgery and providing false identification to police. On Monday evening, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione does not yet have an attorney who can speak on his behalf, court officials said.
Footage of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police showed him lowering his mask in a corner of the McDonald’s while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter jacket and ski cap. In another photo taken from a holding cell, he stood unsmiling, his hair disheveled.
Mangione’s cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione, announced Tuesday morning that he was postponing a fundraiser planned for later this week at Hayfields Country Club, north of Baltimore, which was purchased by the Mangione family in 1986 .
“Due to the nature of this terrible situation involving my cousin, I do not believe it is appropriate to hold my planned fundraising event 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 keep Mr. Thompson’s family in your prayers. THANKS.”
Officers used New York City’s muscle monitoring system. Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and Internet addresses. The police went door to door looking for witnesses.
When an arrest came five days laterthese sprawling investigative efforts shared the merit of an alert civilian’s instincts. A customer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed another customer who looked like the man in oblique security camera photos released by the New York Police Department.
He remains imprisoned in Pennsylvania, where he was originally charged with possessing a firearm without a license, forgery and providing false identification to police. By Monday evening, Manhattan prosecutors had added a murder charge, according to an online court filing.
We don’t know if Luigi Nicolas Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. When asked during Monday’s arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked if he could “answer that question at a later date.”
