Luigi Mangione latest: Gun found on suspect matches shell casings at the crime scene, police say
UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect is fighting extradition to New York where he faces a second-degree murder charge in connection to Brian Thompson’s death
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The gun seized during the suspect’s arrest in Pennsylvania matched the shell casings found at the scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder, police say.
Fingerprints taken from Luigi Mangione also match prints on a water bottle and protein bar wrapper found near the scene of the Midtown homicide, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced at a press conference Wednesday.
These lab results mark the first forensic tie between Mangione and the crime scene.
It comes one day after Mangione’s lawyer, Thomas Dickey, told reporters that he hasn’t “seen any evidence that he’s the shooter.” His client faced an extradition hearing Tuesday in Pennsylvania after New York prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder in connection with last week’s brazen killing in Midtown Manhattan.
“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!,” Mangione yelled as he was escorted in handcuffs into the Blair County Courthouse. The 26-year-old was denied bail and will remain in a Pennsylvania jail while he fights extradition to New York.
Authorities are also investigating Mangione’s notebook that laid out his plot to “wack” Thompson at his “parasitic bean-counter convention”, according to The New York Times.
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Mangione shouts about ‘insult to the American people’ on his way into extradition hearing
Luigi Mangione struggled with police and shouted about an “insult to the American people” as officers forcibly led him into a Pennsylvania courtroom for an extradition hearing Tuesday afternoon.
The 26-year-old, who has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to last week’s killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was denied bail at the hearing and is fighting extradition back to New York.
He appeared at Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg in the afternoon in handcuffs and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.
“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!” Mangione shouted after stepping out of a police car.
He was flanked by several officers who pushed him towards the door.
Rhian Lubin has the full story.
Luigi Mangione shouts about ‘insult to the American people’ as he’s led into court
Luigi Mangione appeared at the Blair County Courthouse this afternoon in handcuffs and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit
‘It’s a dirty, dirty business’: Joe Rogan discusses public perception of UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder
Joe Rogan chalked up the country’s mixed reactions to the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO to the “dirty business” of health insurance.
Rogan and his guests, filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, discussed the December 4 death of Brian Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan street on Tuesday’s episode of the mega-popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
The podcaster and his guests predicted there wouldn’t be much sympathy for the 50-year-old insurance executive due to the state of health insurance in the U.S.
“I don’t think anybody is going to be crying too hard over” Thompson’s death, Avary said.
“Maybe his family, but that’s about it,” Rogan replied. “It’s a dirty, dirty business. The business of insurance is f***ing gross. It’s gross, especially healthcare insurance.”
Read the full story.
Joe Rogan discusses reaction to Brian Thompson’s murder: ‘It’s a dirty business’
‘I don’t think anybody is going to be crying too hard over’ Thompson’s death, Roger Avary said on Rogan’s Tuesday show
What did his notebook say?
Police recovered a notebook — along with the ghost gun, silencer, and fake ID cards — when they apprehended the 26-year-old Monday.
The spiral notebook contained a to-do list outlining tasks to be completed to carry out the killing, as well as notes that justified those plans, CNN previously reported.
One passage, obtained by the New York Times, read: “What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.”
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Thompson on his way to speak at the company’s annual investor conference.
Authorities also recovered a 262-word, three-page handwritten manifesto, which references the notebook, according to the Times.
After analyzing the manifesto, investigators believed Thompson’s death to be a “symbolic takedown,” an internal report obtained by the outlet stated. The suspect “likely views himself as a hero of sorts who has finally decided to act upon such injustices.”
The report also noted concern that others might see him as a “martyr and an example to follow.”
WATCH: Brian Thompson shooting suspect Luigi Mangione's valedictorian speech
ICYMI: GoFundMe takes down fundraisers in support of murder suspect
GoFundMe has shut down multiple pages created to support the accused murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
A masked man fatally shot Thompson in Midtown Manhattan on December 4 before escaping out of the city, leading to a six-day manhunt for the gunman, which ended Thursday with the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. He has been charged with murder.
The insurance executive’s death captivated the nation and sparked serious conversations about the state of health care in the U.S., with some even celebrating the execution as many shared stories of being denied coverage for care. Since his arrest, GoFundMe pages have cropped up in support of Mangione, and the fundraising site has been removing them. It’s not immediately clear how many pages the site took down.
Read the full story.
GoFundMe slaps down fundraisers popping up for suspected CEO killer
‘Legal defense for he who shall not be named wink, wink,’ one now-removed page read
‘He had a lot of things going for him,’ Mangione’s high school classmate says
A high school classmate of the suspect under arrest for fatally gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week said the news “came out of nowhere,” and described the situation as “just, really surreal.”
“He had a lot of things going for him,” Ellison Jordan, who graduated from the Gilman School alongside 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, told The Independent. “He was always cool people.”
Jordan attended Gilman, a prestigious all-boys prep school in Baltimore, with Mangione, and found him to be “a smart dude,” and “a regular guy,” he said on Tuesday.
“I’m being sensitive to Luigi, because I went to school with him,” Jordan, who has not spoken to the media previously about Mangione, went on. “I hope he didn’t do it. I’m praying he didn’t do it. It’s still ‘allegedly.’ It’s really shocking.”
Justin Rohrlich has the exclusive story.
Luigi Mangione’s classmate speaks out about CEO murder suspect after ‘surreal’ arrest
Exclusive: “I hope he didn’t do it. I’m praying he didn’t do it. It’s still ‘allegedly,’” Gilman School graduate Ellison Jordan told The Independent.
Who is Thomas Dickey?
Luigi Mangione’s lawyer is a seasoned trial attorney based in Pennsylvania with more than 40 years of experience.
Thomas Dickey was brought onto the case on Tuesday, one day after his client was arrested in a McDonald’s in the town of Altoona. The 26-year-old now faces a second-degree murder charge in connection to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by New York prosecutors who are seeking his extradition to the state.
Dickey said he expects his client will plead not guilty.
The lawyer, who claims to be “one of the few death-penalty qualified attorneys” in Pennsylvania, said on Tuesday night that it was “concerning” his client had been denied bail at an extradition hearing at Blair County courthouse earlier in the day.
Rhian Lubin has the full story.
What have Mangione’s friends and family said after his arrest?
In the days since the 26-year-old was arrested in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, comments from friends and family have painted a picture of the murder suspect.
Those close to Mangione seem “shocked” by the events that have unraveled in the past week.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione,” said the family in a statement posted on X by Luigi’s cousin Nino Mangione, a Republican member of the lower house of Maryland’s state legislature. “We only know what we have read in the media.”
One former Penn classmate told The Independent that she couldn’t believe the news.
“It’s really shocking…He never gave off a weird, creepy, Unabomber vibe” in college, she said. He didn’t post passionately about social causes in undergrad, so “I guess something really took a turn,” she added.
Some of his friends have discussed how Mangione suffered from debilitating back pain.
“He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes he’d be doing well and other times not,” one friend told the New York Times. “He knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible. I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks.”
ICYMI: Song about Brian Thompson killing goes viral
What charges does Luigi Mangione face?
After his arrest, Mangione was charged and arraigned on five Pennsylvania offenses including forgery, falsely identifying himself, and carrying a gun without a license.
On Monday, he made a brief appearance at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg where he was informed of the charges against him and said he understood.
The suspect returned to the Blair County Courthouse as he faced an extradition hearing Tuesday after New York prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder in connection with last week’s brazen killing of Thompson in Midtown Manhattan.
“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience,” Mangione yelled as he was escorted in handcuffs into the courthouse.
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said both Pennsylvania and New York’s governors remain confident they can get the warrant to transfer him back to the Empire State before the 30-day deadline.
Mangione was denied bail, is fighting extradition, and will remain in a Pennsylvania jail. He is set to plead not guilty to all charges, his attorney Thomas Dickey told NewsNation on Tuesday.
Read everything we know about Luigi Mangione here.
Who is Luigi Mangione? What to know about murder suspect in CEO shooting
Mangione has been denied bail and is fighting extradition after being charged with murder in New York in connection with Brian Thompson’s death