NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Police identified 26-year-old Luigi Mangione as a suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and he was charged with weapons, forgery and related charges at a preliminary arraignment in Pennsylvania where he was apprehended, law enforcement officials confirmed Monday.
In the matter of Commonwealth v. Mangione, a preliminary arraignment was held at approximately 6:30 p.m. at the Blair County Court House located at 423 Allegheny St. in Hollidaysburg. Mangione appeared in person and was charged with weapons, forgery and other charges.
A livestream of the post-arraignment press conference was made available by The Associated Press.
Mangione was arrested earlier in the day by Altoona Police Department officers on forgery and firearms charges. Officials, including Deputy Chief of the Altoona Police Derek Swope, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapio spoke at a press conference following his arraignment and connected him to the “brazen, targeted murder” of Thompson, who was killed last Wednesday in Midtown Manhattan.
During the press conference, Shapiro said that he had briefed NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams on the situation, and charges would be filed against him in New York "very soon."
"That process will continue to play out, and justice will be delivered in this case," Shapiro said.
Mangione was recognized by a patron at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, who then alerted local police. Responding officers questioned him after observing suspicious behavior and discovered multiple fake IDs, a U.S. passport, an apparent "ghost gun" equipped with a suppressor and, according to Swope, more things of "evidentiary value."
Tisch said in a briefing earlier Monday that the weapon and suppressor were “consistent with the weapon used in the murder.”
Further investigation revealed that Mangione was in possession of a fake New Jersey ID matching the one used to check into a New York City hostel prior to the shooting. Officers also recovered clothing, including a mask, consistent with items worn by the suspect captured in surveillance footage, as well as a three-page document with writings that Tisch said “speaks to both his motivation and mindset.”
"We didn't know his name until today," Chief Joseph Kenny said, adding that “our investigation is leaning towards that he was acting alone.”
Shapiro noted during the press conference that the public reaction to Thompson's killing, largely online, has been unsympathetic. While the Pennsylvania governor said he understands frustration over the national healthcare system, that "In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint."
Mangione, a Maryland native, has connections to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu, Hawaii. A high school valedictorian from a Maryland prep school, Mangione earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania.
He had learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication.
His posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, the New Jersey shore and other destinations.
The NYPD sent detectives to Pennsylvania to question Mangione. Mayor Eric Adams also addressed this development at the press briefing in Manhattan at 1:40 p.m.
“Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group said Monday. “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.”
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, Tisch had 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 photos and video — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.
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 have 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.
Monday’s development came as dogs and divers returned to New York’s Central Park while the dragnet for Thompson’s killer stretched into a sixth day.
Investigators have been combing the park since the Wednesday shooting and have been searching at least one of its ponds for three days.
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 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. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.
Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspect that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue mask.
Through the park search, the NYPD has taken steps to minimize disruption to visitors, leading to an odd juxtaposition of joggers, tourists and an active crime scene.
On Monday, a small section of the park was cordoned off with blue and white police tape, giving divers searching a pond an area to change and get in the water. K-9 units sniffed leaf-covered planters between walking paths.
At one point, a group of about 30 French-speaking tourists followed a guide down a path, but they couldn't go any further because of the police tape. Before turning back, many of them whipped out their phones to snap a photo of the divers.