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, revealed Tuesday the police who are trying to establish his motivations in the day after his arrest.
“I have not seen any evidence that proves he is the shooter”
Charged with murder, he appeared this Tuesday in a court in Blair County, Pennsylvania. He contested his transfer to New York, where justice awaits to judge him, which will slow down the procedure and create “more obstacles”, admitted the county prosecutor, Peter Weeks. 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 in Pennsylvania he planned to plead not guilty. “I have not seen any evidence that proves that he is the shooter,” said Mr. Mangione’s defender, according to ABC News television.
“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 crime, the police are seeking to explain why this brilliant former student of 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 notably in possession of a fake driver’s license and “a semi-automatic pistol with what appears to be a 3D printed magazine and a silencer, as well as a confession writings on crime,” when he was arrested.
He has written extensively about his disdain for corporate America and particularly the healthcare industry
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 (…) It is a handwritten (text). He suggests that he is frustrated with the health care system in the United States,” New York Police Chief Investigator Joseph Kenny explained on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“More specifically,” Luigi Mangione “explains that our healthcare 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 corporate America and particularly the healthcare industry,” he added.
“We don’t kill”
The death of Brian Thompson caused great emotion, 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 Times, the police are concerned that the suspect will be seen “as a martyr” by some and “an example to follow”. “The use of violence to fight corporate greed is unacceptable,” condemned White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday. “We don’t kill people in cold blood for political issues or to express a point of view,” Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro also condemned on Monday.
According to people who knew him, quoted in the New York Times, the 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 hike in a superb mountain setting. Police say the suspect’s last known address is in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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