THE man accused of assassinating the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare has boarded a plane en route to New York City, where he will be arraigned on murder charges.
Luigi Mangione, 26, glared at news cameras as he was escorted out of a Pennsylvania courthouse by New York detectives and shoved into a black SUV.
Immediately after his court appearance, NYPD detectives and Pennsylvania State Troops transported Mangione to Altoona Blair County Airport, where he boarded a small plane to New York City.
“We relinquished him to the custody of the New York City Police Department, and they’ll be taking him back to New York City in a safe and secure manner,” Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks told reporters.
Mangione appeared calm during his hearing on Thursday, unlike his December 10 court date, where he was dragged into the courthouse by police after fuming at the media that his arrest was “an insult to Americans.”
“He was smiling at times. He was chatting at times with some of the sheriff’s deputies as well, but mostly keeping his head down, reading and writing on some of the papers that he had in front of him,” according to CNN.
Mangione is expected to appear in a Manhattan federal courtroom Thursday afternoon, the outlet reported.
He was hit with four new federal counts, including murder through the use of a firearm, stalking, and firearm offenses, per CNN.
Outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, NYPD officers set up dozens of metal barricades and deployed security ahead of Mangione’s arrival, video posted on social media showed.
It’s unfortunate that this happened and I’m not glorifying it in any way but it’s brought attention to the issue that affects all Americans.
Demonstrator Natalie
Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, about 8 miles from Altoona, the county where Mangione was arrested on December 9, waiving “Free Luigi” and anti-insurance signs.
Supporters wore caps of the Nintendo Super Mario character Luigi in support of Mangione and held up signs that read, “Murder for profit is terrorism” and “Death by denial is murder.”
Mangione, 26, was charged with 11 criminal counts, including first-degree murder in what Manhattan prosecutors said was part of an act of terrorism.
“This was a killing to invoke terror,” Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said on Tuesday.
“This was not an ordinary killing, not to suggest that any killing is ordinary, but this was extraordinary, and the New York State Legislature has set out both the paths, both the murder one and murder two.
“And this, we alleged, is squarely within those statutes which talk about intending to do exactly what we saw happen here.”
But despite law enforcement’s best efforts to demonize Mangione’s alleged crimes, the case has aroused a pack of morbid fans who have praised the suspect’s actions as heroic.
Mangione allegedly waited for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson for half an hour outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown on the morning of December 4.
Surveillance footage captured the moment a masked gun snuck up behind Thompson, who was on his way to an investors meeting, before firing three shots using a 3D-printed ghost gun, prosecutors said.
Thompson, 50, was struck in the back and leg and was transported to Mount Sinai West Hospital, where he died.
One protester outside the Blair County Courthouse on Thursday called Thompson’s killing “unfortunate” but criticized insurance companies that put “profit over people’s health.”
“It’s unfortunate that this happened, and I’m not glorifying it in any way – but it’s brought attention to the issue that affects all Americans,” the woman, who only identified herself as Natalie, told ABC News.
“It has definitely woke people up. We hear him.”
Bragg said Mangione methodically carried out the brazen, “well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock, and attention, and intimidation.”
There is no heroism in what Mangione did.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch
New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch condemned the people who praised Mangione’s actions as courageous.
“In the nearly two weeks since Mr. Thompson’s killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder,” Tisch said during a press conference on Tuesday.
“Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack. People ghoulishly plastered posters threatening other CEOs with an X over Mr. Thompson’s picture as though he was some sort of sick trophy.
“Let me say this plainly, there is no heroism in what Mangione did.”
Tisch added, “This was a senseless act of violence. It was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk.
“We don’t celebrate murders, and we don’t lionize the killing of anyone, and any attempt to rationalize this is vile, reckless, and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice.”
Prosecutors believe Mangione, a computer science graduate from the University of Pennsylvania who comes from a prominent family in Baltimore, was motivated by hatred toward the US healthcare system.
At the time of his arrest, Mangione was carrying a three-page handwritten manifesto that voiced his frustration about corporate greed and branded insurance companies “parasites.”
On Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny revealed that an FBI field office in San Francisco forwarded a tip about a missing person case from November 18 to the department.
The San Francisco official told a task force officer that the individual at the center of the missing person case resembled the Midtown shooter.
The tip was received by the NYPD about two days after Thompson was assassinated outside the Hilton hotel.
Kenny said a task force officer vetted the San Francisco lead, which was one of four tips received that day.
Part of their investigation into the tip involved contacting Mangione’s mother, Kathleen Zannino, who reported her son missing on November 18 in San Francisco.
“They had a conversation where she didn’t indicate that it was son in the photograph, but said it might be something that she could see him doing,” Kenny said of the December 7 conversation.
Kathleen told police she had not spoken to her son since July 1, according to The New York Post.
BRIAN Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death in Manhattan in an execution-like killing.
Here is everything we know about Thompson’s murder so far.
Monday, December 2 – Thompson travels from his home in Minnesota to New York City for an investor conference in Midtown Manhattan.
Wednesday, December 4, 6:45 am – Thompson walks from his hotel across the street to the New York Hilton Midtown and is murdered by a masked shooter. The execution was caught on surveillance, and the suspect was seen biking away toward Central Park. Cops spark a citywide search for the assassin.
11:30 am – Cops released disturbing images of the execution, offered a reward for information, and made a desperate plea for New Yorkers to keep their eyes out.
12:00 pm – Thompson’s estranged wife Paulette revealed her husband had been threatened before he was shot.
2:45 pm – Cops released more eerie images of the suspect ordering at Starbucks that partially revealed his face. The U.S. Sun confirmed the coffee shop was just two blocks away from the shooting, but it’s unclear when he stopped by.
December 5, 6 am – Reports claim the words “deny,” “dispose,” and “defend” were engraved on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the assassin. These words echo the book Delay, Deny, Defend, which is about the failings of the healthcare industry. The author of the book had no comment on the reports.
8 am– Cops raid a hostel in the Upper West Side of New York City where the suspect is said to have stayed. It’s believed he wore a mask for most of the time he was there.
11 am – A person of interest in Thompson’s murder is pictured. He’s wearing a hood in the photo, but his full face could be seen breaking into a beaming grin. Still, no arrests have been made in the investigation.
Afternoon – Law enforcement confirms the suspect arrived in New York City on a Greyhound bus on November 24. It’s also confirmed that the suspect dropped a burner cell phone near the scene of the shooting.
December 6, 3 pm – Police announce they believe the killer has left New York City via interstate bus. They release more surveillance footage that shows him taking a taxi to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.
December 9 – Luigi Mangione, 26, is arrested as a “strong person of interest” at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was carrying a three-page manifesto, fake IDs, and a gun similar to the one used in Thompson’s murder.
