UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect indicted on murder charges

NEW YORK – The 26-year-old man accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson, chief executive of health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was indicted on murder charges by a grand jury in New York, authorities said Tuesday.

Luigi Mangione, who was arrested last week in Pennsylvania after a manhunt and remains in custody there, was charged with 11 counts, including one count of murder in the first degree that the indictment states was “in furtherance of an act of terrorism.” He is also charged with one count of murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism and another count of murder in the second degree.

On Tuesday, law enforcement officials described Thompson’s death as a stunning act of carefully choreographed violence. Thompson, 50, was walking outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel the morning of Dec. 4 when a masked assailant approached him and opened fire before fleeing the area. Thompson was killed by a gunshot wound to the torso, police said.

“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder,” Alvin Bragg (D), the Manhattan district attorney, said at a news conference announcing the charges against Mangione.

If convicted on the most serious charges, Bragg said, Mangione could face a sentence of life in prison without parole. Mangione also faces charges in New York of criminally possessing a weapon in the second, third and fourth degree, along with possessing a forged instrument in the second degree.

Asked about the decision to accuse Mangione of terrorism-related actions, Bragg said that Thompson’s death “was not an ordinary killing.”

“This was a killing that is intended to evoke terror,” Bragg said.

Authorities said it appears that soon after the shooting, Mangione, who is from a prominent family in Maryland, fled New York City and traveled across Pennsylvania. Police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, said they arrested Mangione after he was spotted at a McDonald’s.

Mangione faces charges in Pennsylvania that include possessing an instrument of a crime, carrying a firearm without a license and providing false identification to law enforcement. Court hearings are scheduled for Thursday morning in Mangione’s case in Pennsylvania.

After Mangione was arrested, his attorney said they would resist efforts to extradite him to New York, which authorities said could delay his transfer for up to several weeks.

Bragg said Tuesday that there were “indications” that Mangione may change course on extradition, adding that if that happened, he would be brought to New York quickly. An attorney for Mangione in Pennsylvania did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an attorney for Mangione in New York, declined to comment on the indictment but said she expects he will consent to being extradited. He could appear in court in New York as soon as Thursday or Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing case.

Officials said that when Mangione was arrested, he had a ghost gun, a fake driver’s license, and a handwritten note that indicated frustrations with corporate America and the health-care system in the United States. UnitedHealthcare has said he was not insured by the company. Police also said he had face masks, a passport, $8,000 in U.S. currency and $2,000 in foreign currency.

Mangione’s life in the Baltimore area had seemingly been laden with praise and promise. He was valedictorian of Gilman School, an all-boys private school, and teachers and others who knew him over the years described a well-liked, affable and kind person. But he struggled with years of back problems, according to friends, who said they lost track of him this year.

Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York police, spoke Tuesday about a conversation investigators had with Mangione’s mother amid the manhunt. She had reported him missing to the San Francisco police in November. After Thompson’s killing, authorities circulated photographs of the assailant, and a San Francisco police officer contacted the FBI to say the person could be Mangione.

Kenny said the New York police received the tip and investigators spoke to Mangione’s mother. She said “it might be something that she could see him doing,” Kenny said. The information was supposed to be given to detectives the following morning, he continued, but Mangione was apprehended.

Law enforcement officials appear to be working to trace Mangione’s movements. They have said he arrived in New York on a Greyhound bus that traveled there from Atlanta, though it was unclear where he boarded.

According to police, Mangione stayed at a hostel on the Upper West Side, checking in with a fake New Jersey driver’s license that officers in Altoona say he also presented to them. Witnesses at the hostel told police that throughout his stay, he wore a face covering, pulling it back over his mouth in between bites while eating.

The shooting set off waves of angry commentary online about the American health care system, with some people praising the attack and castigating the system and health insurers.

According to Bragg’s office, two bullet casings at the scene were marked with the words “DENY” and “DEPOSE” and a bullet was found with “DELAY” written on it. The words seemingly reference the tactics critics say health insurance companies use to reject claims.

People who knew Thompson have been upset by the outpouring of support for the shooting, saying he was a well-liked executive who worked his way from a small Iowa farm to the highest tiers of the business world. Thompson was also said to have worried about public frustrations with the company he led.

Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, said Tuesday she was disgusted by comments online supporting the shooting.

“Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack,” Tisch said.

She denounced anyone celebrating the shooting, saying, “We don’t celebrate murders, and we don’t lionize the killing of anyone.”