Luigi Mangione, the alleged Midtown assassin accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in front of a hotel earlier this month, has waived his extradition rights and is expected to return to New York Thursday.
The revelation came following an 8 a.m. Pennsylvania court hearing during which the 26-year-old chose not to fight the extradition process to bring back to the Big Apple. The proceedings oversaw both firearms charges for the ghost gun the alleged assassin was carrying at the time of his arrest, as well as the process of transporting him from the Keystone State. Sources report that several representatives from the NYPD were in attendance.
Mangione formally waved his initial protest to the extradition during the hearing. Law enforcement sources report that Mangione will be flown from state to state in order to transport the shooter from state to state as swiftly as possible.
According to CNN, which cited law enforcement sources, Mangione is also expected to face federal charges in addition to the first and second-degree murder and terrorism charges brought against him by a Manhattan grand jury, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday.
Mangione catapulted to global infamy following a nationwide manhunt for a masked, caught-on-camera assassin who shot Thompson in the back outside of the Hilton Hotel on Dec. 4 as the CEO headed to an investor meeting.
Law enforcement sources said that Mangione, after allegedly killing Thompson, escaped into Central Park before fleeing the state to Pennsylvania, where he was recognized in an Altoona McDonald’s on Dec. 9 by a worker and ultimately arrested.
This is a developing story; check with amNY.com later for updates.
