Police in Pennsylvania have apprehended the suspect in the Midtown assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel last week, police confirmed on Monday.
According to Mayor Eric Adams and top police brass, the perpetrator who allegedly shocked the world by gunning down Thompson on a busy Midtown street last week was caught thanks to the help of a McDonald’s employee in the Keystone State.
NYPD officials said the alleged shooter, identified as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was sitting at the fast-food chain on East Plank Road in Altoona at about 9:14 a.m. on Dec. 9 reading when the Good Samaritan called police. Cops in the western Pennsylvania city arrived at the scene and took Mangione into custody. They then notified the FBI, which alerted the NYPD to the arrest.
“NYPD detectives are en route to Pennsylvania as we speak to interview this subject,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a Monday press conference at City Hall.
‘Expressed ill will to corporate America’
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny revealed that cops in Altoona found and recovered multiple fake ID cards in Mangione’s possession, including an ID that matched what he used at his Upper West Side hostel stay prior to Thompson’s murder. They also found a mask matching the one he was seen wearing, a passport, and a 3D-printed ghost gun with a suppressor — matching the weapon used to gun down Thompson outside a Midtown hotel on Dec. 4.
“We don’t believe that he was planning on doing any traveling at this time. We don’t think, at this point in our investigation, that he was trying to flee the country,” Chief Kenny told amNewYork Metro.
Mangione, a native of Maryland, was also found in possession of a three-page document that, according to Kenny, “expressed ill will to corporate America.”
Police say they expect Mangione to face gun charges in Pennsylvania before being extradited back to the Big Apple to face murder charges. That process could take several weeks.
A targeted killing
The arrest comes after an intense, five-day manhunt for the suspected assassin, who killed Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel on West 54th Street near 6th Avenue at about 6:45 a.m. on Dec. 4.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police believe Mangione allegedly arrived outside of the hotel just five minutes before Thompson, who was scheduled to speak at an investor meeting that morning.
Thompson was shot in the back and thigh and died at Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital. By all accounts, it appeared to be a targeted killing; Thompson’s assassin allegedly used a silencer, and shell casings recovered at the scene were found to have the words “Deny,” “Defend,” and “Depose” written on them in marker.
During the investigation, detectives pieced together the assassin’s travels in New York. The killer arrived from (and later departing from) out-of-state at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and stayed at an Upper West Side hostel. Throughout the weekend, police also combed areas of Central Park, looking for and obtaining additional evidence, including a backpack the killer carried with him.
Despite all the man-hours police put into the search, they credit the breakthrough coming thanks to the image being circulated via the media.
“We took that photograph, and we asked for the public’s help in identifying the subject,” Chief Kenny said. “The NYPD provided these photos to numerous media outlets, local, national and international outlets. Released a photo via television, print, social media and online content. Luckily, a citizen in Pennsylvania recognized our subject and called local law enforcement.”
A deep dive into Mangione’s social media accounts revealed a man deeply entrenched in philosophy and ethics. His most recent post on X (formerly Twitter) was the results of a poll in which he spoke about “utilitarian ethics vs. virtue ethics,” claiming, “Utilitarian: The action is good if the consequences are good,” and “Virtue: The action is good if it’s what a virtuous person would do.”
“Homicide: worse consequences Rape: worse virtues,” he added in the post.
