The alleged perpetrator of the murder of the boss of a health insurance giant last week in New York had on him a text revealing his anger against this sector, police revealed Tuesday. The man was arrested on Tuesday 500 km from the scene of the murder.
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old engineering graduate and computer enthusiast, was apprehended Monday at a McDonald's in the rural town of Altoona. He is suspected of having shot dead last Wednesday at dawn and in the middle of the street in downtown Manhattan the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, the country's leading private health insurer.
Charged with murder, he appeared Tuesday in a court in Blair County, Pennsylvania. He contested his transfer to New York, where justice is waiting to judge him, which will slow down the procedure and create “more obstacles”, recognized the county prosecutor.
Luigi Mangione's lawyers have 14 days to file their arguments against their client's transfer to New York. One of them told reporters in Pennsylvania his intention to plead not guilty. “I have not seen any evidence that proves he is the shooter,” he said.
“Insult to intelligence”
Images showed the athletic-looking young man, with curly black hair and an orange prison jumpsuit, exiting a police vehicle handcuffed to be taken to court. We suddenly see him become agitated, forcing the police officers who escort him to hold him down and pin him against a wall. He vehemently throws out the words “unfair” and “this is an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
Six days after the murder, the police are trying to explain why this brilliant former student at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania and originally from a wealthy Baltimore family coldly shot Brian Thompson at the foot of a hotel in the heart of Manhattan.
According to the court document indicting him for murder, he was in particular in possession of a false driver's license and “a semi-automatic pistol with what appears to be a 3D printed magazine and a silencer, as well as” written confession to the crime”, when he was arrested. The document does not detail his “confessions”, but the police indicated on Monday that a three-page text had been found on the suspect.
“I was able to read this manifesto […]. He suggests that he is frustrated with the health care system in the United States,” the New York police chief of investigators explained on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“More specifically,” Luigi Mangione “explains that our health care system is the most expensive in the world, while the life expectancy of an American is ranked 42nd in the world. He has written extensively about his disdain for American businesses and particularly for the healthcare industry,” he added.
The death of Brian Thompson caused a lot of emotion, but it was also accompanied by hateful comments on social networks against health insurance programs.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
