NEW YORK: A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with murder Monday in the targeted killing of a health insurance executive on the streets of New York, along with other violations.
Luigi Mangione was charged in New York on suspicion of one count of murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged document and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. according to online court documents he saw AFP.
Investigators continued to question Mangione in connection with last week’s brazen killing, which sparked a national manhunt and global headlines.
He arrived at a Pennsylvania courthouse wearing a dark sweatshirt after 6:00 p.m. (23:00 GMT) on Monday and was led through Altoona police flanked by NYPD detectives where he was taken, according to television stations.
Mangione is next due in court on Dec. 23.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said murder charges would follow in New York state, telling a media briefing “we don’t kill people in cold blood to settle policy differences or make a point.”
Police have not confirmed reports that the words “delay” and “denial” – language used by insurers to reject claims – were written on cases found at the scene, hinting at a possible political motive for the crime.
According to a New York Times report citing friends of Mangione, the suspect lived with severe back pain and underwent surgery for the condition last year.
A photo on one of his social media accounts appeared to include an X-ray of an apparently injured spine.
Mangione was arrested by officers following a tip from staff at an Altoona McDonald’s branch, where he was found wearing a mask and a mask while using a laptop computer and gave officers a fake ID, charging documents show.
They then searched him and found what police called a “ghost gun” capable of firing 9mm rounds and equipped with a suppressor that could have been made on a 3D printer.
When officers asked if he had been to New York recently, Mangione “became silent and began to shake,” according to the criminal complaint.
One of the fake IDs found was one used to check into a Manhattan hotel before the attack, which was discovered along with a document that spoke to Mangione’s “motivation and mindset,” the New York police said. .
Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, attended the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and lived in Hawaii before the murder.
Mangione’s LinkedIn profile showed he worked as a data engineer at TrueCar, a California-based online car marketplace that said he was leaving their job in 2023.
His family issued a joint statement late Monday saying they are “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”
He was run over by bicycle
In last Wednesday’s shooting, the gunman walked up behind Brian Thompson, a senior executive at UnitedHealthcare – one of the nation’s largest medical insurers – and killed him in front of bystanders.
The attack was caught on a surveillance camera and the footage was seen by millions around the world as interest in the manhunt and the mystery of the killer’s motives built into a frenzy.
Thompson, 50, was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.
Detectives said the suspect fled the crime scene on foot before riding a bicycle to Central Park and later boarding a bus from a terminal north of the city that connects New York to surrounding states and beyond.
The video shows Thompson on the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown when a hooded man, his lower face covered, approaches from behind and fires several shots at the father of two, who crumples to the ground.
A released image of the suspect was taken from the youth hostel where the gunman was apparently staying before the strike, with media reports saying he had pulled down his mask to flirt with a receptionist.
The highly profitable US health insurance system is the source of deep frustration and anger among many Americans, due to high costs and limited coverage, and Thompson’s death was greeted with an absence of sympathy by some.
A Facebook post mourning his loss, shared by UnitedHealth Group, garnered more than 71,000 laughing emojis in two days before the meter was disabled.
Mangione must now be extradited from Pennsylvania to New York to face murder charges, police said.
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