Suspect in killing of health insurance company executive arrested in Pennsylvania

NEW YORK (AP) — Police have arrested a 26-year-old man with a weapon consistent with the gun used to kill the head of the largest U.S. health insurer, New York’s police commissioner said Monday.

The man was taken into custody after police got a tip that he had been spotted at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

“They also recovered clothing, including a mask consistent with those worn by our wanted individual,” Tisch said. “Also recovered was a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID our suspect used to check into his New York City hostel before the shooting incident.”

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny identified the suspect as Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mangione had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace, investigators said.

“As of right now the information we’re getting from Altoona is that the gun appears to be a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3-D printer, capable of firing a 9 mm round,” Kenny said. Altoona, Pennsylvania, is about 233 miles west of New York City.

Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, Tisch said. Mangione was carrying a firearm and officers found a suppressor, “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said.

Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.

The handwritten document “speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.

UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.

The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching the executive from behind and opening fire, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. He used a 9 mm pistol that police said resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise.

In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of photos and video — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.

Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.

Investigators have suggested the gunman may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer.