The gun likely used by the suspect in the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York was apparently made in part with a 3D printer and commercially available Glock 19 components.
Published at 8:00 a.m.
The images of the weapon seized by the police in Luigi Mangione’s backpack were notably broadcast by CNN and NBC.
“The pistol had a metal slide with a plastic handle and a twisted metal barrel,” states the report from Pennsylvania police officers, who apprehended the 26-year-old suspect Monday morning. The images of the murder, captured by surveillance cameras and broadcast by certain American media, suggest that this is indeed the murder weapon.
PHOTO BENJAMIN B. BRAUN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Suspect Luigi Mangione arrives at the courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
According to political scientist Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, specialist in terrorist tactics at the Royal Military College of Canada, it is a weapon printed from a plan called ChairmanWon V1, named after its anonymous creator.
Plans for this weapon have been circulating on the internet since 2022. In the jargon, it is a “ part completion kit ”, or incomplete set to assemble yourself. “Only the frame of the weapon is 3D printed. The rest of the parts are standard parts from a Glock 19,” specifies the political scientist.
In the United States, these weapons make it possible to evade federal gun control law, according to which the frame of every firearm must have a serial number. Printing the frame makes it possible to circumvent this obligation, while allowing it to be combined with industrial quality parts, including the barrel, an element that is particularly difficult to manufacture yourself.
“When we talk about ghost guns, that’s really what we’re talking about,” says Mr. Veilleux-Lepage.
On the internet, several libertarian forums glorify the manufacturing of 3D weapons, seen as an act of defiance towards the system and the elite. “On internet forums [consacrés] 3D weapons, users send their congratulations to ChairmanWon, the creator of this weapon,” notes Mr. Veilleux-Lepage.
“In my opinion, this is the first high-profile crime committed with a 3D printed weapon in the United States,” adds Mr. Veilleux-Lepage. The number of these so-called “ghost” firearms seized by American police officers has increased by more than 1,000% since 2017, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Explosive and Firearms Control.
Banned in Canada
While the law governing the making of weapons with a 3D printer varies from one American state to another, it is much more severe in Canada. A new provision in the Criminal Code even prohibits the possession and sharing of computer files allowing them to be printed.
A man from Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, Pascal Tribout, is the first Canadian who risks conviction under this new provision, which came into force in December 2023. The 37-year-old roofing contractor, a Hitler worshiper who made disturbing comments about Jews on a discussion forum, was arrested after sending an undercover RCMP officer an image of a 3D weapon he claimed to have made from A to Z.
“You shoot someone with that, then you melt it afterwards, you make the evidence disappear, it becomes a perfect crime,” he wrote to his interlocutor, shortly before being arrested.
According to Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, one of the 3D printed weapon frames seized from Pascal Tribout, on which the words “fuck you asshole” was engraved, was a Glock pistol base to complete yourself with commercial parts. The police also seized several pieces of weapons in the suspect’s condo, including triggers and springs which appeared to have been delivered to his home.
Pascal Tribout faces charges of fomenting hatred, as well as charges of possession and distribution of computer data used to manufacture firearms.
For his part, the New York suspect has so far been charged with murder and possession of a firearm without a license. It is possible that other charges will be added.
His backpack contained a “silencer also 3D printed”, specifies a report made public by the Pennsylvania police. This accessory, which Hollywood culture has closely associated with murders, remains legal in several American states.
