Suspect in killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson charged with murder

New York prosecutors filed a extinguish price in opposition to the suspect within the killing of a UnitedHealth executive, a brazen shooting that direct off a manhunt that culminated in his hang in Pennsylvania earlier on Monday.

The motion introduced an give as much as a traumatic 5-day manhunt for the suspected killer.

The suspect, identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, used to be captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he used to be seen eating at a McDonald’s by a customer and an employee who believed he resembled the gunman, officials mentioned at a data convention.

When approached by two law enforcement officials for the interval of the McDonald’s and requested if he had no longer too long within the past been in New York, Mangione began to shake and went mute, no doubt one of many responding officers mentioned at a press convention. He had been wearing a hide and sitting by myself with a laptop and backpack.

A search of the backpack at the police role modified into up a gloomy “ghost gun” – a firearm assembled from substances, making it untraceable – loaded with a magazine and a silencer. Pennsylvania authorities mentioned the weapon, as well to clothing and a hide, win been corresponding to those extinct by the killer.

Mangione used to be led into the Blair County courthouse in Altoona for his arraignment on Monday night, the assign gun and forgery expenses win been be taught in opposition to him. The favor requested Mangione if he understood the expenses in opposition to him, and he mentioned he did. No plea used to be entered.

Prosecutors in New York introduced a extinguish price, alongside with four connected gun expenses, in opposition to Mangione, per court docket records.

Pennsylvania prosecutors, citing wrong IDs and a tidy sum of money that win been found on Mangione, argued he used to be a flight risk and requested that bail be denied, which it used to be. Several digital devices win been also found with the suspect, and they win been being examined by police.

Officers in Pennsylvania mentioned at a press convention that they win been working to resolve if Mangione had any accomplices and if he intended to extinguish any individual else. They mentioned he had been in Pennsylvania for several days and win been investigating exactly the assign he used to be and what he did within the direct.

Mangione, a Maryland native, had a pair of counterfeit identifications, alongside with a pretend New Jersey ID that matched the one extinct by the gunman to test into a The the gigantic apple hostel days sooner than the shooting, officials mentioned.

Police also found a handwritten doc that speaks to “both his motivation and his mindset,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned earlier on Monday.

While the doc did no longer demonstrate explicit targets, Mangione harbored “sick will toward company The United States,” mentioned Joseph Kenny, the NYPD’s chief of detectives.

Mangione graduated from a non-public all-boys college in Baltimore as valedictorian in 2016 sooner than incomes dual engineering levels in 2020 at the University of Pennsylvania, a prestigious Ivy League college, per college records. His supreme identified take care of used to be in Honolulu, officials mentioned.

Thompson, 50, used to be gunned down out of doorways a The the gigantic apple hotel early on Wednesday morning by a masked man who looked as if it will befriend for his arrival sooner than shooting the chief from at the serve of.

The suspect ran from the scene after which rode a motorcycle into Central Park. Surveillance video captured him exiting the park and taking a taxi to a bus role in northern The the gigantic apple, the assign police accept as true with he extinct a bus to wing the city.

DENY DEFEND DEPOSE

Police mentioned Thompson looked as if it would per chance well be deliberately centered and win been investigating whether others also would per chance well furthermore win been in be troubled.

The phrases “whisper,” “shield” and “depose” win been carved into shell casings found at the scene, several data retailers win reported. The phrases evoke the title of a book serious of the insurance coverage industry published in 2010 titled “Delay, Sing, Defend: Why Insurance Corporations Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Create About It.”

A Fb profile that looks to belong to Mangione identified him as a local of Towson, Maryland, and a old student at the University of Pennsylvania. Photos appear to illustrate Mangione at Stanford University wearing Stanford-branded clothing.

An X account that looks owned by Mangione says he lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Thompson’s extinguish unleashed a wave of frustration from Americans who win viewed their medical health insurance coverage claims or care denied, faced surprising costs or paid extra for premiums and sanatorium treatment – all traits which would per chance be rising, per unique info.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, speaking at a press convention with prosecutors and police in Altoona, mentioned he understood the frustrations that some Americans, angered by medical health insurance coverage corporations and their refusal to pay for some remedies, had expressed online since Thompson’s killing. But he rejected the glorification of the suspect in some circles online.

“In The United States we terminate no longer extinguish folk in frigid blood to resolve policy differences or explicit a standpoint,” Shapiro mentioned.

Thompson, a father of two, had been CEO of UnitedHealth Neighborhood’s insurance coverage unit since April 2021, segment of a 20-three hundred and sixty five days occupation with the corporate. He had been in New York to befriend the corporate’s annual investor convention.

“Our hope is that this day’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, buddies, colleagues and the many others tormented by this unspeakable tragedy,” a spokesperson for UnitedHealth mentioned.