What we know about Luigi Mangione, the suspect arrested in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing

NEW YORK (WPIX) – A man arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been identified as Luigi Mangione, officials said Monday.

Mangione, 26, was taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday. He was arrested by the Altoona Police Department after a McDonald’s employee recognized him, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

The 26-year-old has since been charged with murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.

Here’s what we know about Mangione.

From valedictorian to unreachable

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland and has ties to San Francisco, California. His last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has no prior arrest history in New York.

A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator.

“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland Del. Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”

Mangione graduated as valedictorian from Baltimore’s Gilman prep school in 2016, Gilman headmaster Henry P.A. Smyth said in an email to parents and alumni.

“We do not have any information other than what is being reported in the news,” Smyth wrote. “This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.”

Mangione earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesman told The Associated Press on Monday. He had learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication.

His posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, the New Jersey shore and other destinations.

From January to June 2022, Luigi Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu. He underwent a background check and was “widely considered to be a great guy,” said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin.

At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said. Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment.

Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago.

Found with fake ID, three-page document

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania — about 230 miles west of New York City — after a McDonald’s customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said.

“Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a U.S. passport,” Tisch said.

He initially gave police a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says. When he pulled his mask down at the officers’ request, “we knew that was our guy,” rookie Officer Tyler Frye said.

Officers recovered a firearm and suppressor consistent with the weapon used to kill Thompson, the commissioner said. Clothing and a mask consistent with those worn by the shooting suspect, as well as a fake New Jersey ID matching the one used at a Manhattan hostel where the gunman was believed to have stayed before the shooting, were also recovered.

Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash, $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount.

Mangione had writings critical of corporate America with him, according to police, with Tisch adding that the document “speaks to both his motivation and mindset.” He reportedly called health insurance companies “parasitic” and had expressed disdain for corporate greed, a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press said.

Slideshow: Images of Luigi Mangione released by Pennsylvania State Police

A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the three-page, handwritten document Mangione had included a line in which he claimed to have acted alone.

“To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official.

It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”

Mangione previously wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world and that profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin obtained by The AP, based on a review of his hand-written notes and social media posts.

He also called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and may have found inspiration from the man who carried out a series of bombings while railing against modern society and technology, according to the police bulletin.

Mangione struggled with officers as he arrived at the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday and shouted something partly unintelligible that referred to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.” Local defense lawyer Thomas Dickey, who is expected to represent Mangione, declined comment before the afternoon hearing.

Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash, $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount.

What happened in New York?

Thompson, 50, was shot and killed outside a Midtown hotel Wednesday morning as he arrived for an investors’ meeting. The brazen shooting set off a days-long manhunt, with NYPD officers combing through Midtown, Central Park, and the Upper West Side.

Late last week, police said they believed the suspect had left New York City on a bus on the day of the shooting.

Tisch previously described the shooting as a “premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.” Kenny on Monday said the three-page document found on Mangione indicated he had “ill will toward corporate America.”

“We don’t think that there’s any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document,” Kenny said.

The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition found at the scene of Thompson’s killing, according to Kenny. The words are similar to a phrase used by critics of the insurance industry.

The FBI offered up to $50,000 for information that led to the arrest and conviction in the case. It was not immediately clear whether the McDonald’s employee would receive the reward.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.