new york – Prosecutors announced Tuesday that they have charged the man accused of killing the CEO of United Healthcare with murder in an act of terrorism, and are working to bring him from a Pennsylvania prison to a New York court. Ta.
Luigi Mangione was already charged with murder in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson, but the terrorism charges are new.
Under New York state law, the alleged crime is “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian, to influence the policy of a governmental agency by intimidation or coercion, to influence the action of a governmental agency by murder, whether by assassination or kidnapping.”
Mr. Mangione’s New York lawyer had no comment on the matter.
Thompson, 50, was shot and killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel where Minnesota-based United Healthcare, the nation’s largest health insurance company, was holding an investor meeting.
“This was a carefully planned, horrifying murder case designed to shock, attract attention and intimidate,” the District of Manhattan said in a statement. Atty. Alvin Bragg said at a press conference Tuesday. “It occurred in one of the busiest areas of our city and threatened the safety of local residents and tourists, commuters and just-starting businessmen alike.”
After several days of intense police search and publicity, Mr. Mangione was found and arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. New York Police Department officials say Mangione was in possession of the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, and various false identification documents, including one the suspect presented when checking into a New York hostel. did.
The 26-year-old is charged with gun and forgery charges in Pennsylvania and is being held without bail. Pennsylvania’s attorney questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal basis for the gun charge. The lawyer also said Mangione would resist extradition to New York.
Mangione has two court hearings scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania, including an extradition hearing, Bragg noted.
Hours after his arrest, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office filed papers charging him with murder and other crimes. Charges will be based on that document.
Investigators’ leading theory is that Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent Maryland family, was motivated by anger at the U.S. health care system. When he was arrested, he had a handwritten letter calling health insurance companies “parasites” and complaining about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press Weekly.
Mangione has repeatedly posted on social media about how spinal surgery last year has alleviated his chronic back pain, and says he speaks up when people with similar conditions say they have to “just put up with it and live with it.” I urged him to do so.
In a post on Reddit in late April, he advised people with back problems to seek additional opinion from their surgeon and, if necessary, argue that the pain prevents them from working.
“We live in a capitalist society,” Mangione wrote. “We find that the medical industry responds to these keywords with much more urgency than you describing excruciating pain and how it is impacting your quality of life.”
He was not a UnitedHealthcare customer, the insurance company said.
Mangione appears to have isolated himself from his family and close friends in recent months. Her family reported her missing to San Francisco authorities in November.
Raised on a farm in a small town in Iowa, Thompson trained as an accountant. The married father of two high school students spent 20 years at the giant UnitedHealth Group, where he became chief executive officer of the insurance division in 2021.
His murder is a major threat to U.S. health insurance companies, as Americans exchange stories online and elsewhere of being denied insurance coverage, left at a loss due to differing opinions between doctors and insurance companies, and leaving behind large bills. caused a great deal of anger.
The shooting has also shaken executives, with “wanted” posters bearing the names and faces of other medical executives posted on New York streets, and after intense online criticism, police say It warned of the possibility of an “increasing threat.”
Offenharz and Peltz contributed to the Associated Press. Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
