Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old defendant The man who fatally shot United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York earlier this month has been charged with murder “as an act of terrorism.”
A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Mangione on additional murder charges, according to New York prosecutors who already charged him with murder on Dec. 4.
“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder designed to cause shock, attention and intimidation,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a news conference. “It occurred in one of the busiest parts of our city and threatened the safety of residents and tourists alike, commuters and business people just starting their day,” he added.
Mangione’s defense attorney in New York, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, did not immediately comment on the new charges.
Under New York law, a terrorism charge can be filed if an alleged crime is “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a governmental entity through intimidation or coercion, and to influence the conduct of a governmental entity through murder.” Murder or kidnapping.”
Thompson, 50, was shot as he walked to a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare, one of the largest health insurers in the United States, was holding an investor conference.
Arrested for a tip
After a lengthy manhunt, Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania on December 9th following a tip from a McDonald’s employee.
According to authorities, the items included a 3D-printed gun, a silencer and several fake IDs, including one that the attacker was believed to have used to check into a New York hostel before the shooting recovered when Mangione was arrested.
Before appearing in court in shackles last week, Mangione delivered a partially incomprehensible message to reporters in which he referred to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
At the brief hearing, his defense attorney, Thomas Dickey, told the court that Mangione would challenge extradition to New York and requested a hearing on the matter. He remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania.
During his trial, Mangione wore an orange prison jumpsuit and alternately looked forward, at the papers and then back at the gallery. He was once silenced by his lawyer when he tried to speak.
The brash nature The murder and apparent motive aroused national intrigue. While many experts, doctors and U.S. citizens condemned the violence, they said it was emblematic of the country’s underlying anger toward the health care industry, where high costs leave many patients at the mercy of insurers.
Shell casings found at the scene bore the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” apparently referencing a phrase critics used to describe how health insurers avoid paying compensation. The gunman fled to Central Park on an electric bicycle and later boarded a bus out of the city.
“Parasitic”
In the days since the attack, many have done so brought to social media to share accounts from insurance companies that deny claims.
The law enforcement memo, based on Mangione’s writings, some of which were recovered at the time of his arrest, said Mangione was likely motivated by “parasitic” health insurance companies and a general disdain for corporate greed.
According to the memo, Mangione had written that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world and that big corporations’ profits continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not.
Thompson, who grew up on a farm in small-town Iowa, trained as an accountant. A married father of two high school students, he worked at giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance division in 2021.
Mangione comes from an influential family in Baltimore, Maryland, and was valedictorian of an elite preparatory school in Baltimore. He then earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania, a prestigious Ivy League school, in 2020.
Some friends, known as affable and intelligent, said in interviews with US media that Mangione’s behavior had changed after recent surgery on his spine.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media by his cousin, Delaware state Rep. Nino Mangione, late Monday.
“We are praying for Brian Thompson’s family and asking people to pray for everyone involved.”
