Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, who is accused of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in last week’s attack in midtown Manhattan, has been charged with murder. He said he would be extradited to New York.
Mangione appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom Tuesday, a day after he was arrested in the town of Altoona following a tip from a McDonald’s employee. He was charged with Thompson’s New York murder and misdemeanor charges in Pennsylvania just hours after his arrest.
Emerging from his police car, Mangione delivered a partially incomprehensible message to reporters, although he referred to it as an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
During a brief hearing, his attorney, Thomas Dickey, told the court that Mangione would contest extradition to New York, requesting a hearing on the matter. He has 14 days to file a formal challenge to move to New York, during which time he will be held in Pennsylvania without bail.
While in court, Mangione alternated between looking forward, looking at documents and looking back at the gallery in an orange jumpsuit. He was silenced at one point by his lawyer when he attempted to speak.
The court appearance comes six days after a gunman fatally shot the head of Thompson, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan.
The brazen nature of the attack and the search that lasted several days sparked national interest. Many experts, doctors and U.S. citizens condemned the violence but said it was emblematic of a growing trend of anger in the U.S. against the health care industry, whose high costs leave many patients vulnerable to the will of insurers.
Bullet casings found at the murder scene had the words “deny,” “defend,” and “dismiss” written on them, an apparent reference to phrases critics use to describe how health insurers avoid paying claims. The criminal fled to Central Park on an electric bicycle and then took a bus downtown.
In the days following the attack, many people took to social media to share accounts of insurance companies denying claims. That sentiment has authorities bracing for copycat attacks, according to a law enforcement memo obtained by U.S. media.
The White House also took action.
“Obviously this is a terrible thing,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. “Violence to combat corporate greed is unacceptable.”
More details appear
A law enforcement memo based on Mangione’s writings (some of which were recovered at the time of his arrest) said Mangione was likely motivated by a general disdain for corporate greed and companies he described as “parasitic” health insurance companies. It was revealed.
Authorities said when Mangione was arrested, they recovered a 3D-printed gun, a suppressor and several fake IDs that the attacker allegedly used to check into a New York hostel before the shooting.
According to the memo, Mangione wrote that while the United States has the most expensive health care system in the world and the profits of major corporations continue to grow, “our life expectancy” does not.
The document added that Mangione may have been inspired by so-called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, whom he called a “political revolutionary.” Kaczynski carried out a series of bombings from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s that he blamed on modern society, technology, and environmental destruction. His attack left three people dead.
The profile that emerged after Mangione’s arrest bears some similarities to Kaczynski, who was considered a math prodigy.
Mangione came from an influential family in Baltimore, Maryland, and was valedictorian of a prestigious Baltimore private school. He earned bachelor’s and graduate degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania, a prestigious Ivy League school, in 2020.
Known as affable and intelligent, some friends told US media that Mangione’s demeanor had changed after recent spinal surgery.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted to social media late Monday by his cousin, Delaware state Rep. Nino Mangione.
“We offer our prayers to Brian Thompson’s family and ask people to pray for everyone involved.”
