Luigi Mangione, suspect charged in CEO's killing, was caught in McDonald's with gun: police
Mangione, 26, faces murder charge in New York
A five-day manhunt for the shooter who killed the top executive at the largest health-care insurance company in the United States came to an end Monday after a man matching the description was spotted at a McDonald's hundreds of kilometres from the crime scene, police said.
Local authorities arrested Luigi Mangione, 26, after a customer saw him eating at the restaurant in Altoona, Pa., investigators announced that afternoon. He was found carrying a gun matching the one used by the shooter who ambushed Brian Thompson, 50, outside a New York City hotel last week.
Manhattan prosecutors have since charged Mangione with murder and other offences, according to an online court docket. He faces several other charges in Pennsylvania, including forgery and carrying a firearm without a licence. Here's what we know so far.
What do police say Mangione had on him?
Mangione was found with a ghost gun — a weapon that can be made at home, so as to be nearly untraceable — and a suppressor. He also had multiple pieces of fake identification similar to those believed to have been used by the killer, officials said, as well as similar clothes.
One of those fake IDs was the same New Jersey ID the gunman used to check into a New York hostel before the shooting.
Authorities also found a handwritten, three-page document that they said spoke to Mangione's "motivation and mindset." Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny later said it was clear from the document that Mangione had "some ill will toward corporate America," but did not further describe what was written.
Mangione also had a U.S. passport, but investigators don't believe he had plans to leave the country. Kenny said he did not have a criminal record.
Police said investigators are still combing through his online accounts for evidence. Kenny said they watched thousands of hours of video and reviewed hundreds of tips over the last five days, using drones, canine teams, scuba divers, fly-over canvasses and door-to-door work.
The gunman proved difficult to identify because he was masked in surveillance footage. Police released a pair of photos from the back of a taxi on Saturday showing more of his upper face.
What do we know about Mangione?
Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland. He is from a prominent family in the state: one of his cousins is Nino Mangione, the Republican Maryland state legislator.
In a statement, the politician said the Mangione family was shocked by Luigi's arrest and could not comment on news reports because they don't know anything beyond what's in the media.
"We ask people to pray for all involved ... we are devastated by this news," Nino wrote on Facebook.
Luigi Mangione went to high school at the all-boys' Gilman School in Baltimore, where he was valedictorian in 2016.
One of his classmates said he came from a wealthy family, even by the private school's standards.
"He does not seem like the kind of guy to do this based on everything I'd known about him in high school," Freddie Leatherbury told The Associated Press. He said he hasn't spoken to Mangione since they graduated.
Mangione has bachelor and master's degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania — an ivy league school — and worked as a data engineer, according to Kenny. He also had ties to San Francisco and was most recently on record with an address in Honolulu.
In January, an account that appeared to belong to Mangione posted an online Goodreads review of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto.
Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, planted bombs that killed three people and injured nearly two dozen more before he was arrested in 1996. In his manifesto, he blamed industrialization for destroying the natural environment.
He was sentenced to several life terms in prison and died last year.
The Goodreads review written beneath Mangione's name described the manifesto as revolutionary.
"When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive," the post read. "'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators."
A Reddit user later claimed credit for the quote, saying it had been copied from their own Reddit post about Kaczynski's document.
Mangione's Goodreads account has since been set to private.
Who was Brian Thompson?
Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group with roughly 50 million American customers. He was shot dead from behind in front of the New York Hilton Midtown just before 6:45 a.m. ET on Dec. 4, as he headed to an investors' conference.
The company saw $281.4 billion US in revenue in 2023 — nearly double that of the next largest U.S. health insurer. Americans routinely pay more for health care than people in any other country.
Widespread rage at the state of the trillion-dollar industry found an unabashed outlet in Thompson's death in recent days.
A Facebook post from UnitedHealth Group mourning Thompson's death was met with tens of thousands of user reactions — the majority of which were the laughing emoji.
Some wrote cutting posts pointing out that the initial $10,000 US reward for information on Thompson's killer was less than their annual insurance deductible, while others discouraged those with information on the shooter's whereabouts from phoning police.
On Monday, online accounts appearing to belong to Mangione were flooded with sympathy and praise from other users. The most recent post on an Instagram account was filled with comments for police to release the "king" or the "GOAT" — the acronym for "greatest of all time."
In another statement on Monday, a UnitedHealth Group spokesperson told The Associated Press the company hoped "today's apprehension brings some relief to Brian's family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy."
"We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation. We ask that everyone respect the family's privacy as they mourn."
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With files from The Associated Press and Reuters