The Latest: Suspect in United Healthcare CEO’s killing charged with weapons, forgery, other charges

Police arrested a “strong person of interest” Monday in the brazen Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO after a quick-thinking McDonald’s employee in Pennsylvania alerted authorities to a customer who was found with a weapon and writings linking him to the ambush.

The 26-year-old man had a gun believed to be the one used in the killing and writings suggesting his anger with corporate America, police officials said. He was taken into custody after police got a tip that he was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

Police identified the suspect as Luigi Mangione. Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco, and his last known address is in Honolulu, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a news briefing.

Mangione was charged with weapons, forgery and other charges in Pennsylvania on Monday. He was arraigned and ordered held without bail.

Here’s the latest:

Writings from the suspect are voluminous, Altoona deputy chief of police says

“They were very detailed, and everything we have is going to be turned over to NYPD,” Altoona Deputy Chief of Police Derek Swope told The Associated Press.

He did not characterize the writings further.

A McDonald’s customer first recognized Mangione and notified an employee, authorities say

“The customer recognized, notified an employee and wanted someone to check it out further,” said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.

Suspect went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh after the shooting, authorities say

He likely “was in a variety of locations across the state,” Bivens said.

“Based on everything we have seen, he was very careful with trying to stay low profile, avoid cameras — not all that successfully in some cases, but that was certainly the effort he was making,” Bivens said. “He took steps to try and avoid detection with some of the electronic devices as well.”

Rookie police officer who helped arrest the suspect says, ‘We knew that was our guy’

Officer Tyler Frye, who has only been on the job for about six months, and a fellow officer responded to the McDonald’s where the suspect was spotted.

They asked him to pull his blue medical mask down and “recognized him immediately” Frye said. “We didn’t even think twice about it, we knew that was our guy.”

Frye said “it feels good to get a guy like that off the street, especially starting my career this way, it feels great.”

Mangione had

a large sum of cash when he was arrested, prosecutor says

Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was carrying a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency.

Mangione disputed the amount.

He was also found with a box of masks, the prosecutor said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro hails the ‘hero’ who notified police about the suspect

“A Pennsylvania resident saw something early this morning and said something to our local police,” Shapiro said.

“In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this, he is no hero,” the Democrat continued. “The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”

Authorities are giving an update after Mangione’s arraignment

Altoona’s Deputy Chief Derek Swope opens the news conference. At least a half-dozen men in NYPD jackets are lined up behind the microphones, along with a Pennsylvania state trooper and other law enforcement personnel.

Mangione is arraigned and ordered held without bail

Asked if he needed a public defender, he asked if he could “answer that at a future date.”

What police say they found in Mangione’s backpack

After Mangione provided his real name and birth date, he was taken into custody on charges of forgery and false identification to law enforcement, court documents say.

In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed pistol and a 3D-printed black silencer, the papers say.

The pistol had a metal slide and plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel. It had one loaded Glock magazine with six 9 mm full metal jacket rounds and one loose 9 mm hollow-point round.

Court docs describe the moment police saw Mangione in the McDonald’s

According to court documents, Mangione was sitting at a table in the rear of the McDonalds wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a silver laptop computer and had a backpack on the floor.

When he pulled down his mask, Altoona police officers “immediately recognized him as the suspect” in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the documents say.

Asked for identification, Mangione provided officers with a fake ID — a New Jersey driver’s license bearing another name and the incorrect date of birth.

Mangione began shaking when police asked if he had been in New York recently, court papers say

When an officer asked if he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” according to a criminal complaint based on police accounts of the arrest.

Mangione is charged with weapons, forgery and other charges in Pennsylvania

A police criminal complaint charged him with forgery, carrying firearms without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing an instrument of crime and providing false identification to law enforcement.

Mangione arrives at court

Video posted on the social platform X shows a handcuffed Mangione arriving at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.

Recent cases su

ggest that it could be a while before Mangione is returned to New York

For example, it took about 10 months to extradite a man charged with stabbing two workers at the Museum of Modern Art in 2022.

The suspect, Gary Cabana, was also arrested in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with setting his Philadelphia hotel room on fire. Cabana was sent back to New York after he pleaded guilty to an arson charge in Pennsylvania.

Manhattan prosecutors could seek to expedite the process by indicting Mangione for Thompson’s killing while he’s still in custody of Pennsylvania authorities. They could then obtain what’s known as a supreme court warrant or fugitive warrant to get him back to New York.

Former classmate of Mangione says ‘he had everything going for him’

Freddie Leatherbury hasn’t spoken to Mangione since they graduated in 2016 from Gilman School in Maryland. He said Mangione was a smart, friendly and athletic student who came from a wealthy family, even by the private school’s standards.

“Quite honestly, he had everything going for him,” Leatherbury said.

Leatherbury said he was stunned when a friend shared the news of their former classmate’s arrest.

“He does not seem like the kind of guy to do this based on everything I’d known about him in high school,” Leatherbury said.

Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family

One of his cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesperson for the delegate’s office confirmed Monday.

Luigi Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of Nick Mangione Sr., according to a 2008 obituary.

Mangione Sr. grew up poor in Baltimore’s Little Italy and rose after his World War II naval service to become a millionaire real estate developer and philanthropist, according to a 1995 profile by the Baltimore Sun. He and his wife Mary Cuba Mangione, who died in 2023, directed their philanthropy through the Mangione Family Foundation, according to a statement from Loyola University commemorating her death. They donated to a variety of causes, ranging from Catholic organizations to higher education to the arts.

A man who answered the door to the office of the Mangione Family Foundation declined to comment Monday evening.

Mangione Sr. was known for Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. The father of 10 children, Nick Mangione Sr. prepared his five sons — including Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to help manage the family business, according to a 2003 Washington Post report.

The Mangione family also purchased Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday afternoon, Baltimore County police officers had blocked off an entrance to the property, which public records link to Luigi Mangione’s parents. A swarm of reporters and photographers gathered outside the entrance.

UnitedHealth Group comments on the arrest

“Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group said Monday. “We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation. We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn.”