Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Monday in the Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO after they say a Pennsylvania McDonald’s worker alerted authorities to a customer who resembled the suspected gunman.
The suspect, identified by police as Luigi Nicholas Mangione, had a gun believed to be the one used in Wednesday’s attack on Brian Thompson, as well as writings expressing anger with corporate America, police said.
Here are some of the latest developments in the ongoing investigation:
Where Was the Man Captured?
Mangione was taken into custody at around 9:15 a.m. after police received a tip that he was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh, police said.
Mangione was being held in Pennsylvania on gun charges and will eventually be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson’s death, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
What Evidence Have Police Found?
In addition to a three-page, handwritten document that suggests Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said Mangione also had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home and is difficult to trace.
Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. Officers also found a suppressor, “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said.
He had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, Tisch said.
What Do We Know About Mangione?
Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco, and that his last known address is in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Mangione, who was valedictorian of his Maryland prep school, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a university spokesman told the Associated Press on Monday.
He 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 social media 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 at the Jersey Shore and in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and other destinations.
The Gilman School, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is one of Baltimore’s most elite prep schools. Some of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent people, including Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have had children attend the school. Its alumni includes sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington.
In his valedictory speech, 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.
In an email to parents and alumni, Gilman headmaster Henry P.A. Smyth said the school “recently” learned that Mangione was arrested in the CEO’s killing.
“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.”
The Shooting and a Quick Escape
Police said the person who killed Thompson left a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side at 5:41 a.m. on Wednesday.
Just 11 minutes later, he was seen on surveillance video walking back and forth in front of the New York Hilton Midtown, wearing a distinctive backpack.
At 6:44 a.m., he shot Thompson at a side entrance to the hotel, fled on foot, then climbed aboard a bicycle and within 4 minutes had entered Central Park.
Another security camera recorded the gunman leaving the park near the American Museum of Natural History at 6:56 a.m. still on the bicycle but without the backpack.
After getting in a taxi, he headed north to a bus terminal near the George Washington Bridge, arriving at around 7:30 a.m.
From there, the trail of video evidence runs cold. Police have not located video of the suspected shooter exiting the building, leading them to believe he likely took a bus out of town. Police said they are still investigating the path the suspect took to Pennsylvania.
“This just happened this morning,” Kenny said. “We’ll be working, backtracking his steps from New York to Altoona, Pennsylvania,” Kenny said.
Source : MedPageToday