The alleged perpetrator of the murder of the boss of UnitedHealthcared, a health insurance giant, last week in New York, carried a text revealing his anger against this sector, revealed Tuesday, December 10, the police who are trying to establish his motivations the day after his arrest.
Luigi Mangione, 26, an engineering graduate and computer enthusiast, was arrested Monday at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 500 kilometers west of New York City. He is suspected of having shot dead, on December 4 at dawn and in the middle of the street in central Manhattan, Brian Thompson, the general director 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 « plus d’obstacles »admitted the county prosecutor, Peter Weeks.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In New York, the day I received a $43,970 bill from my surgeon
Read later
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers have fourteen days to submit their arguments against the transfer of their client to New York. One of them, Thomas Dickey, told reporters he intended to plead not guilty. “I have not seen any evidence that proves he is the shooter”said Mr. Mangione’s defender, according to the ABC News television channel.
“Contempt” for the health industry
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 the words “unfair” et “It is an insult to the intelligence of the American people”.
Six days after the crime, the police are seeking to explain why this brilliant former student of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania and originally from a wealthy family in Baltimore (Maryland) 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 driving license and“a semi-automatic pistol with what appears to be a 3D printed magazine and silencer, as well as a written confession to the crime”when he was arrested. The document does not detail its “confessions”but the police indicated on Monday that a three-page text had been found on the suspect.
Also read the analysis (2019) | Article reserved for our subscribers “Medicare for all” or the impossible American-style social security
Read later
“I was able to read this manifesto (…) It’s a [texte] manuscript. He suggests he is frustrated with the US health care system.explained the chief of investigators of the New York police, Joseph Kenny, on the show Good Morning America, on the ABC channel.
The Memorable World
Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde”
Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde”
Discover
” More precisely “Luigi Mangione “explains that our health care system is the most expensive in the world, while the life expectancy of an American is ranked forty-second in the world. He has written extensively about his disdain for corporate America and, in particular, the healthcare industry.he added.
Fear that the suspect will become “an example to follow”
The death of Brian Thompson provoked strong reactions, but it was also accompanied by hateful comments on social networks against American health insurance programs, illustrating deep anger in the country towards a lucrative system accused of enriching itself on the backs of patients. In an internal memo cited by the New York Timespolice are concerned that the suspect will be perceived “like a martyr” by some and like “an example to follow”.
“The use of violence to combat corporate greed is unacceptable”condemned White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday. “We don’t kill people in cold blood for political reasons or to express a point of view”also condemned the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, on Monday.
According to people who frequented it, cited by the New York Timesthe young man suffered from serious back problems which handicapped him in his daily and intimate life. Among the photos posted on his X profile is a medical X-ray image that appears to show pins implanted in a person’s lower back. Another shows Luigi Mangione all smiles, shirtless and muscular, during a mountain hike. Police say the suspect’s last known address is in Honolulu, Hawaii.
