An image of the suspect released by the New York police.Keystone
Last Wednesday, the boss of the largest insurer in the United States, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed in the center of Manhattan. After five days of tracking, the police arrested a suspect. He is a 26-year-old American.
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A 26-year-old American was arrested Monday in the investigation into the “targeted” assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, this Wednesday in New York.
“Members of the Altoona police, 500 km west of New York, arrested Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old man, for possession of firearms,” said Jessica Tisch, the boss of the New York police, during a press briefing alongside Mayor Eric Adams.
“At this time we believe this is the person we are looking for in the targeted and ruthless killing of Brian Thompson.”
Jessica Table
The suspect, whose several photos captured by video surveillance cameras before and after the murder had been released since Wednesday, was recognized by an employee of a McDonald’s in Altoona who contacted the local police, added Jessica Tisch. He is expected to be transferred to court in New York shortly.
Master of Engineering Sciences
Luigi Mangione was presented by police as a native of the state of Maryland (northeast), also having links to San Francisco and whose last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2020, he obtained a master’s degree in engineering sciences from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the private universities of the prestigious and selective Ivy League.
On him, the police found a kit firearm, “which could have been made by a 3D printer” and a silencer, similar to those used by the killer.
Luigi Mangione also carried a fake New Jersey ID card “matching the ID used to check into a New York hotel” the night before the attack, as well as a three-page handwritten document describing his “ hostility toward American businesses,” police said.
Scene worthy of a movie
But the authorities have not commented further on the possible motives for the assassination. According to American media reports, the words “delay” and “deny” – terms referring to rejections of health care claims by insurance companies – were written on the shell casings found at the scene of crime.
At dawn on Wednesday, the killer approached Brian Thompson, 50, and coldly shot him in the street in front of a hotel in Manhattan, a scene worthy of a movie, captured by a video surveillance camera and now seen by millions of people. (ats)
