CEO shooting: What we know about suspect Luigi Mangione

Police have charged a 26-year-old man in connection to the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Bryan Thompson last week.

On Monday, police announced they charged 26-year-old Luigi Mangione in connection to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Bryan Thompson in New York last week.

Mangione, who was recognised in a McDonalds in Pennsylvania, was in possession of a ghost gun and a three-page handwritten document that the police said showed “motivation and mindset” for Thompson’s killing. Shortly after first being detained, Mangione was charged with murder and four other counts.

This is all we have learned so far about the suspect, who is set to be extradited to New York to face charges connected with Thompson’s death.

Mangione was born and raised in Maryland and comes from a wealthy family, having attended an elite, all-boys high school in Baltimore where he was valedictorian.

His father, Nick Mangione, was a successful real estate developer known for Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference centre outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. One of his cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione.

Since his arrest, his family have released a statement saying they “only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved”.

In his valedictory speech, Luigi Mangione described his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things,” according to a post on the school website. He praised their collective inventiveness and pioneering mindset.

A classmate of his at highschool, Freddie Leatherbury told Associated Press Mangione “Quite honestly, he had everything going for him”.

Mangione earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, where he learned to code and helped to start a club for people interested in gaming.

Since graduating, Mangione was employed as a data engineer for digital retailing website TrueCar and as an intern for video game developer Firaxis.

Mangione’s social media account provide some clues about his possible thinking. An active Goodreads account shows he wrote sympathetically about the so-called “Unabomber manifesto”, a book written by Theodore Kaczynski who carried out a bombing campaign that killed three people starting in 1978.

“While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary” Mangione said of Kaczynski.

Elsewhere, his profiles suggest he had recently lost contact with his family and friends, having not posted in several months. In October, a post on X showed someone tagging Mangione and writing: “Hey, are you ok? Nobody has heard from you in months, and apparently your family is looking for you”.

Evidence and arrest

Mangione was taken into custody after being recognised at McDonald’s, where a customer informed an employee who tipped off authorities.

The suspect was in possession of a ghost gun, a silencer and a loaded magazine with six rounds of ammunition. Police said he was also carrying several fake IDs, including one used to check into the New York City hostel where Thompson’s shooter was seen.

Mangione reportedly lied about his name when arrested, telling officers he “clearly shouldn’t have” when asked. A criminal complaint filed in Pennsylvania says that he became quiet and started to shake when asked if he had recently visited New York.

He has been charged with the murder of Bryan Thompson who was the CEO of United Healthcare, the US’s largest health insurer.

Bullet castings with the words “deny” and “delay” were left at the scene. The phrases are commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims, leading the public to speculate if the shooting was motivated by hatred for healthcare insurers paying claims.

Police said they found three pages of documents when they arrested Mangione that showed “ill will towards corporate America” including a sentence that read: “I do apologise for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done”.

Additional sources • AP

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