DECEMBER 19, 2024:
NEW YORK (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO is back in New York facing new federal charges of murder and stalking, escalating the case after his earlier indictment on state charges. Luigi Mangione agreed to return to New York after a Thursday morning (Dec. 19, 2024) court appearance in Pennsylvania where he was arrested last week. He appeared in a Manhattan federal court in the afternoon where a magistrate ordered he be detained. The federal complaint unsealed Thursday charges him with two counts of stalking and one count each of murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense. Murder by firearm could bring the possibility of the death penalty.
DECEMBER 18, 2024:
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors said Tuesday (Dec. 17, 2024) as they worked to bring him to a New York court from a Pennsylvania jail.
Luigi Mangione already was charged with murder in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson, but the terror allegation is new.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we’ve seen that reaction.”
Mangione’s New York lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, declined to comment.
Thompson, 50, was shot while walking to a hotel where Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare — the United States’ biggest medical insurer — was holding an investor conference.
The killing kindled a fiery outpouring of resentment toward U.S. health insurance companies, as Americans swapped stories online and elsewhere of being denied coverage, left in limbo as doctors and insurers disagreed, and stuck with sizeable bills.
The shooting also rattled C-suites, as “wanted” posters with other health care executives’ names and faces appeared on New York streets and some social media users extolled Mangione’s deed as payback.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday that “any attempt to rationalize this is vile, reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice.”
A New York law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks allows prosecutors to charge crimes as acts of terrorism when they’re “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping.”
Prosecutors have applied the statute to various contexts. Some related to international extremism, but the law was first used against a Bronx gang member after a hail of gunfire killed a 10-year-old girl and paralyzed a man outside a christening party in 2002. The state’s highest court later said the conduct didn’t amount to terrorism, and a retrial produced convictions on other charges.
Thompson’s killing, Bragg noted, happened early on a workday in an area frequented by commuters, businesspeople and tourists.
“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” the district attorney said.
After days of intense police searches and publicity, Mangione was spotted Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and arrested. New York police officials have said Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport and various fake IDs, including one that the suspected shooter presented to check into a New York hostel.
The 26-year-old was charged with Pennsylvania gun and forgery offenses and locked up there without bail. His Pennsylvania lawyer has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal grounding for the gun charge. The attorney also has said Mangione would fight extradition to New York.
Mangione has two court hearings scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania, including an extradition hearing, Bragg noted.
Hours after his arrest, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed paperwork charging him with murder and other offenses. The indictment builds on that paperwork.
Investigators’ working theory is that Mangione, an Ivy League computer science grad from a prominent Maryland family, was propelled by anger at the U.S. health care system. A law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week said that when arrested, he was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed.
Mangione repeatedly posted on social media about how spinal surgery last year had eased his chronic back pain, encouraging people with similar conditions to speak up for themselves if told they just had to live with it.
In a Reddit post in late April, he advised someone with a back problem to seek additional opinions from surgeons and, if necessary, say the pain made it impossible to work.
“We live in a capitalist society,” Mangione wrote. “I’ve found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how it’s impacting your quality of life.”
He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.
Mangione apparently cut himself off from his family and close friends in recent months. His family reported him missing in San Francisco in November.
After San Francisco authorities got a tip to their New York counterparts, investigators spoke to Mangione’s mother in San Francisco late on Dec. 7. In that interview, “she said it might be something that she could see him doing,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Tuesday.
Before the case detectives could follow up on that lead, Mangione was arrested, Kenny said.
Mangione’s relatives have said in a statement that they were “shocked and devastated” by his arrest.
Thompson, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, was trained as an accountant. A married father of two high-schoolers, he had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.
DECEMBER 11, 2024:
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare has made it clear he isn’t going to make things easy for authorities. Luigi Mangione shouted unintelligibly and writhed in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court Tuesday (Dec. 10, 2024). And he objected to being taken to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance aren’t expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Mangione. He is charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson. Little new information has come out about a possible motive. But writings found in Mangione’s possession hint at a vague hatred of corporate greed.
DECEMBER 10, 2024, UPDATE:
NEW YORK (AP) —Manhattan police have obtained a warrant for the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione, suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEOBrian Thompson. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, while carrying a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush. Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Late Monday (Dec. 9, 2024), Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
DECEMBER 10, 2024:
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — Court records show New York prosecutors have charged a man with murder in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. Luigi Nicholas Mangione is being held without bail Tuesday (Dec. 10, 2024) in Pennsylvania after he was arrested and arraigned on gun, forgery and other charges the day before. He is expected to be extradited to New York eventually. It’s unclear whether the 26-year-old Mangione has an attorney who can comment on his behalf. Authorities say he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a McDonald’s customer noticed another patron who resembled the man in security-camera photos that New York police had publicized.
DECEMBER 9, 2024, UPDATE:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was likely carried out with a ghost gun, one of the nearly untraceable weapons that can be made a home, police said Monday (Dec. 9, 2024).
A ghost gun is a firearm without a serial number, and police believe the one used in last week’s shooting of Brian Thompson may have been made with a 3D printer. It was capable of firing 9 mm rounds. The man arrested in the crime, Luigi Mangione, also had sound suppressor, or silencer, police said.
Ghost guns have increasingly turned up at crime scenes around the U.S. in recent years.
DECEMBER 9, 2024:
NEW YORK (AP) — Police arrested a “strong person of interest” Monday (Dec. 9, 2024) in the brazen Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO after a quick-thinking McDonald’s employee in Pennsylvania alerted authorities to a customer who was found with a weapon and writings linking him to the ambush.
The 26-year-old man had a gun believed to be the one used in the killing and writings suggesting his anger with corporate America, police officials said.
He was taken into custody after police got a tip that he was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.
He had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, Tisch said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny identified the suspect as Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu, Hawaii. A message left Monday with a Philadelphia-area phone number connected to Mangione was not immediately returned.
Mangione was being held in Pennsylvania on gun charges and will eventually be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson’s death, Kenny said.
Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.
The handwritten document “speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.
Mangione had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace, investigators said.
“As of right now the information we’re getting from Altoona is that the gun appears to be a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, capable of firing a 9 mm round,” Kenny said.
Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, Tisch said. Officers found a suppressor, “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said.
NYPD detectives and staff from the Manhattan district attorney’s office were traveling to Altoona to interview Mangione, Kenny said.
UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching the executive from behind and opening fire, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. He used a 9 mm pistol that police said resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise.
In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of nine photos and video — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.
On Monday, police credited news outlets for disseminating the images and the tipster for recognizing the suspect and calling authorities.
“Luckily, a citizen in Pennsylvania recognized the subject and called local members of the Altoona Police Department responded to the call, and based on their investigation, they notified the NYPD,” Kenny said.
Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.
Investigators earlier suggested the gunman may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer. Ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics.
The gunman concealed his identity with a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence, including a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza and a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that police say he bought at Starbucks minutes before the attack.
On Friday, police found the backpack that they say the killer discarded as he fled from the crime scene to an uptown bus station, where they believe he left the city on a bus.
Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, investigators say the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle, emerged from the park without his backpack and then ditched the bicycle.
He then walked a couple blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, Kenny said.
The FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered.
DECEMBER 5, 2024:
NEW YORK (AP) — Investigators are searching for clues that could help them identify the masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest U.S. health insurance companies on a Manhattan sidewalk, then disappeared into Central Park.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, died in a dawn ambush Wednesday (Dec. 4, 2024) as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference at a Hilton in Midtown, blocks from tourist draws like Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art.
The killing, and the shooter’s movements in the minutes before and afterward, were captured on some of the multitudes of security cameras present in that part of the city.
One video showed him approach Thompson from behind, level his pistol and fire several shots, barely pausing to clear a brief gun jam while the dying health executive tumbled to the pavement.
Other security cameras captured the initial stages of the gunman’s escape. He was seen fleeing the block across a pedestrian plaza, then escaping on a bicycle into Central Park, where he vanished.
Police used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intense search, but the killer’s whereabouts remained unknown late into the night.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that while investigators had not yet established a motive, the shooting was no random act of violence.
“Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target,” Tisch said at a news conference Wednesday.
“From watching the video, it does seem that he’s proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Police issued several surveillance images of the man, who wore a hooded jacket and a mask that concealed most of his face and wouldn’t have attracted attention on a frigid winter day. Some of the photos were taken at a Starbucks coffee shop shortly before the shooting.
The police department offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the insurer’s Minnetonka, Minnesota-based parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., said in a statement. “We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.”
Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he told her “there were some people that had been threatening him.” She didn’t have details but suggested the threats may have involved issues with insurance coverage.
Eric Werner, the police chief in the Minneapolis suburb where Thompson lived, said his department had not received any reports of threats against the executive.
Investigators recovered several 9 mm shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled. They were also searching Thompson’s hotel room, interviewing his UnitedHealthcare colleagues and reviewing his social media, Kenny said.
Police initially said the shooter rode into Central Park on a bicycle from the city’s bike-share program, CitiBike. But a spokesperson for the program’s operator, Lyft, said police officials informed the company Wednesday afternoon that the bike was not from the CitiBike fleet.
Health care giant UnitedHealth Group was holding its annual meeting with investors to update Wall Street on the company’s direction and expectations for the coming year. The company ended the conference early in the wake of Thompson’s death.
Thompson, a father of two sons, had been with the company since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years.
UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the U.S. and manages health insurance coverage for employers and state and federally funded Medicaid programs.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted on the social platform X that the state is “sending our prayers to Brian’s family and the UnitedHealthcare team.”
“This is horrifying news and a terrible loss for the business and health care community in Minnesota,” the Democrat wrote.
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