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Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, was arrested in Pennsylvania for the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson. He was first identified through surveillance footage, then captured at a McDonald’s.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione arrested in UnitedHeathcare CEO’s murder case (Photo: Reuters)
Identifying and arresting 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a week after he shot and killed UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, has not been a cakewalk for the New York Police Department (NYPD).
However, CCTV images of Luigi unmasking his face, apparently to flirt with one of the receptionists at a hotel, became a breakthrough.
Fifty-year-old Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel on the morning of December 4. Luigi was masked when he killed Brian and had waited for him to arrive before he shot him from behind.
He then ran from the scene and rode a bike into Central Park.
Surveillance video captured him exiting the park and taking a taxi to a bus station in northern Manhattan, where police believe he used a bus to flee the city.
Before committing the crime, Luigi had stayed in a hotel and then a hostel.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO’s MURDER: HOW WAS ATTACKER IDENTIFIED?
Multiple surveillance images in the vicinity where Brian was shot showed Luigi masked, once at a hotel reception, on the street, at a nearby Starbucks, and more such places.
One of the images obtained from a CCTV video showed Luigi revealing his face to a receptionist when she asked him to show his face.
A report with the New York Post suggested Luigi was flirting with the receptionist at the moment.
His location was confirmed to be from the HI New York City hostel.
On Monday, Luigi was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s. He was first identified by a customer and an employee who believed he resembled the gunman after posters of him were put up.
When approached by two police officers inside the McDonald’s and asked if he had recently been in New York, Luigi began to shake and went quiet, one of the responding officers said at a press conference.
He had been wearing a mask and sitting alone with a laptop and backpack.
A search of the backpack at the police station turned up a black “ghost gun” – a firearm assembled from parts, making it untraceable – loaded with a magazine and a silencer.
Pennsylvania authorities said the weapon, as well as clothing and a mask, were similar to those used by the killer.
Luigi was led into the Blair County courthouse in Altoona for his arraignment on Monday night, where gun and forgery charges were read against him.
The judge asked Luigi if he understood the charges against him, and he said he did.
No plea was entered.
Prosecutors in New York brought a murder charge, along with four related gun charges, against Luigi, according to court records.
WHAT ALL WAS RECOVERED FROM THE ACCUSED?
Pennsylvania prosecutors said some fake identity cards and a large sum of cash were seized from Luigi.
One of the fake IDs matched the one used by him to check into a Manhattan hostel days before the shooting.
Several electronic devices were also found with him and were being examined by police.
Officers in Pennsylvania said at a press conference that they were working to determine if Luigi had any accomplices and if he intended to kill anyone else. They said he had been in Pennsylvania for several days and were investigating exactly where he was and what he did in the state.
Police also found a handwritten document that speaks to “both his motivation and his mindset.”
WHO IS LUIGI NICHOLAS MANGIONE?
Luigi graduated from a private all-boys school in Baltimore as valedictorian in 2016 before earning dual engineering degrees in 2020 at the University of Pennsylvania, a prestigious Ivy League university, according to school records.
His last known address was in Honolulu, according to officials.
His family members said they were “shocked and devastated” by Luigi’s arrest.
DENY DEFEND DEPOSE
The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were carved into shell casings found at the crime scene. The words evoke the title of a book critical of the insurance industry published in 2010 titled “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
Thompson’s murder unleashed a wave of frustration from Americans who have seen their health insurance claims or care denied, faced unexpected costs or pay more for premiums and medical care – all trends that are rising, news agency Reuters quoted recent data.
Thompson, a father of two, had been CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit since April 2021, part of a 20-year career with the company. He had been in New York to attend the company’s annual investor conference.
