A 26-year-old American, arrested Monday after five days of tracking, is being prosecuted for the murder of the boss of a health insurance giant in New York. Luigi Mangione had been arrested by “members of the Altoona police”, 500 km west of New York, “for possession of firearms”, Jessica Tisch, the police boss, had earlier indicated from New York.
Several photographs captured by video surveillance cameras before and after the “targeted and unscrupulous murder of Brian Thompson, director of UnitedHealthcare” had been released. The suspect was recognized by an employee at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, who contacted local police, Jessica Tisch added.
American media images showed the young man, with curly black hair, leaving a police vehicle handcuffed to be escorted before a Pennsylvania state court. A judge kept him in custody pending his transfer to the New York courts for his possible indictment for the murder of Brian Thompson.
Firearm kit
Luigi Mangione was presented by police as a native of Maryland (northeast), whose last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii. He obtained a master’s degree in engineering sciences from the prestigious private University of Pennsylvania (U Penn) in 2020, after attending a posh high school in Baltimore.
According to the Baltimore Banner, he comes from a wealthy Italian-American family, with a grandfather, who died in 2008, a real estate developer and owner of country clubs, retirement homes and a local radio station.
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 identity used to check into a New York hotel” before the attack, as well as a three-page handwritten document describing his “hostility to against American companies,” police said.
But the authorities have not commented further on the possible motives for the assassination. According to American media, 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 crime scene .
