Authorities have reportedly detained a person of internet in the killing of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in midtown, Manhattan on Dec. 4.
The New York Times reports that the individual, identified at 26-year Luigi Mangione, was recognized by someone who spotted him in a McDonald’s in Altoona, PA, about 280 miles from New York City, citing three law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. According to one of the officials, the man being held for questioning had a gun, silencer, and false identification cards similar to that of the murder suspect.
NYPD investigators are on their way to Altoona to speak with the man, who is said to have shown police the same fake New Jersey ID that the alleged gunman used when checking into a hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Nov. 24. For now he has been arrested on local charges, possibly related to presenting false identification to the police, but would require extradition to New York to be charged with murder.
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The suspect being sought is believed to have left New York City by bus shortly after the killing. Authorities have requested the passenger manifest of the Greyhound bus he presumably took to see if any of the names match any of the fake IDs.
Additional photos of the suspect were released to the public over the weekend showing him in a taxi, after police reviewed thousands of hours of surveillance camera footage to learn of his movements across what is thought to be his 11 days spent in New York City. A backpack full of Monopoly money was recovered in Central Park on Friday, but officials have not publicly confirmed whether it belonged to the suspect.
Investigators also recovered bullets and shell casings from the crime scene that appeared to have the words "deny," "depose," and "defend" spelled out on them, in an apparent reference to the 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claim and What You Can Do About It by author and legal expert Jay Feinman.
