Altoona, Pa., police arrest suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
New York City Police say this is Luigi Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
by Peter Hall, Iowa Capital Dispatch
December 9, 2024
Police in Altoona, Pennsylvania arrested a suspect Monday in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week in New York, authorities announced.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the man arrested as Luigi Mangione, 26, whose last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mangione was in possession of what New York police described as a “ghost gun” made with a 3D printer and a “handwritten document that speaks to his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s where he was recognized by an employee. The New York Police Department has published images from surveillance cameras showing the suspect’s face.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said Mangione had no prior criminal record and that police believe he attended college in Pennsylvania. Social media accounts in Mangione’s name say that he attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science.
Mangione was being held on Pennsylvania weapons charges and NYPD detectives were en route to Altoona, nearly 300 miles from New York, to interview him, Kenny said.
Thompson, 50, was shot several times by a person who authorities believe was lying in wait early Wednesday morning outside the Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare was holding an investors meeting.
A spokesperson for the Blair County District Attorney’s Office said it would release a statement later Monday.
Thompson had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest for-profit health insurance providers, for nearly three years. His killing has prompted an outpouring of criticism of the company and the United States’ health care system generally for denying or unnecessarily complicating medical treatment.
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Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
