New York authorities charged the suspect with murder in the slaying of a UnitedHealth executive, a brazen shooting that sparked a tense five-day manhunt that ended with his apprehension in Pennsylvania earlier Monday.
The alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, 26, was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being observed eating at a McDonald’s by a customer and an employee who thought he looked like the gunman, officials said at a news conference.
When contacted by two police officers inside the McDonald’s and asked if he had recently visited New York, Mangione began to shiver and became silent, according to one of the responding policemen at a news conference.
He wore a mask and sat alone with a laptop and rucksack.
A search of the police station’s rucksack revealed a black “ghost gun” – a handgun constructed from parts that cannot be traced — loaded with a magazine and a silencer.
Authorities in Pennsylvania stated the weapon, as Clothing and masks were comparable to those used by the killer.
On Monday night, Mangione was escorted into the Blair County Courthouse in Altoona for his arraignment, during which firearms and forgery accusations were read against him.
The court asked Mangione if he understood the charges against him, and he responded yes. No plea was entered.
According to court records, New York prosecutors charged Mangione with murder and four associated firearms counts.
Pennsylvania prosecutors, citing fraudulent IDs and a large sum of cash discovered on Mangione, claimed he was a flight risk and requested that bail be refused, which it was.
Several electronic devices were also discovered with the suspect and were being investigated by authorities.
Officers in Pennsylvania claimed at a press conference that they were investigating whether Mangione had any accomplices and intended to kill anyone else.
They claimed he had been in Pennsylvania for several days and were looking into his whereabouts and activities there.
Mangione, a Maryland native, possessed many phony identifications, including a fake New Jersey ID that matched the one used by the gunman to check into a Manhattan hostel days before the attack, according to authorities.
Police also discovered a handwritten memo that discusses “both his motivation and his mindset,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said earlier Monday.
While the paper did not name specific targets, Mangione harbored “ill will toward corporations.”
According to school records, Mangione graduated as valedictorian from a private all-boys school in Baltimore in 2016, and will pursue dual engineering degrees at the University of Pennsylvania, a top Ivy League university, in 2020. Officials reported that his last known residence was in Honolulu.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” the Mangione family wrote in a statement posted on Maryland politician Nino Mangione’s website, X.
They stated they couldn’t speak further since they “only know what we’ve read in the media,” and they prayed for Thompson’s family.
Thompson, 50, was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel early Wednesday morning by a masked attacker who appeared to await his arrival before shooting the executive from behind.
The suspect fled the area and subsequently rode a bike into Central Park.
Surveillance video shows him departing the park and taking a taxi to a bus stop in northern Manhattan, where police suspect he fled the city.
‘Deny, defend, and depose’
Thompson seems to have been purposefully targeted, according to police, and they are looking into whether others were also at risk.
Shell casings found at the scene were etched with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” according to numerous news outlets.
The words evoke the title of a book critical of the insurance business published in 2010 titled “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It”.
A Facebook profile that looks to be Mangione’s listed him as a Towson, Maryland native and former University of Pennsylvania student.
Photos appear to show Mangione at Stanford University wearing Stanford-branded attire.
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