MD Man Charged With Murder In Health Care CEO's Killing

Updated at 11:15 p.m.

TOWSON, MD — A Towson native charged with murder in the New York City killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is a former valedictorian and a coding expert from a well-known business family, reports said Monday.

Authorities said they arrested Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, on Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania on five weapons and forgery charges. Late Monday night, Manhattan prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Mangione, according to an online court docket. He remained jailed in Pennsylvania.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Monday afternoon named Mangione as a person of interest in Johnson's killing. Tisch said Mangione possessed evidence that connected him to last week's shooting in Midtown Manhattan.

He was arraigned on Monday and a preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 23, court records show.

Mangione's family in Maryland posted a statement on social media Monday evening: “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” said the statement posted by his cousin, Maryland Del. Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”

Mangione's Maryland Roots

Mangione graduated atop his class in 2016 at Gilman School, an elite all-boys private school in Baltimore’s Roland Park neighborhood.

“We do not have any information other than what is being reported in the news,” Gilman headmaster Henry P.A. wrote in a Monday email to the school community, according to Baltimore Fishbowl. “This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.”

Mangione earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesman told The AP. At Penn, Mangione helped start a club for gamers and game designers.

The Baltimore Banner reported that Mangione's club was featured in Penn Today, the university’s news blog. The story was removed from the website minutes after the news of Mangione's arrest broke.

“In high school, I started playing a lot of independent games and stuff like that, but I wanted to make my own game, and so I learned how to code,” then-junior Mangione said in the article, according to The Banner. “In my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I learned [on my own] how to program, and that’s why I’m a computer science major now; that’s how I got into it.”

Mangione Family Businesses

The Mangione family owns and operates Turf Valley in Ellicott City and Hayfields Country Club in Baltimore County, WBAL reported.

His cousin is Baltimore County Delegate Nino Mangione, R-District 42A, the lawmaker's office confirmed to the TV station.

Mangione family businesses also include the Lorien nursing homes and radio station WCBM-AM, The Baltimore Banner said.

The Arrest

Mangione got off of a Greyhound bus traveling through Altoona, Pennsylvania, Monday morning and entered a McDonald's restaurant, where he was recognized from the images of the suspect circulated nationally by authorities, ABC News reported.

Police responding to the McDonald's reportedly discovered the man had fake IDs — including one the gunman used to check into a New York hostel before the shooting.

A masked gunman shot Thompson, 50, at point-blank range Wednesday outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where UnitedHealthcare was holding an investors conference.

Surveillance videos show the killer shot Thompson at around 6:45 a.m. before fleeing on foot and then on a bike into Central Park. Authorities believe he left New York City on an interstate bus.

Although police have not disclosed a possible motive for the killing, shell casings found at the crime scene had the words "deny," "delay" and "depose" written on them. The slaying has triggered intense discussion and criticism of the American health insurance industry.

Related:

• Person Of Interest ID'ed In Search For CEO's Gunman
• Man In PA Questioned In Healthcare Executive's Killing: Reports

Mangione had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace, investigators said at a New York City press conference Monday.

“As of right now the information we’re getting from Altoona is that the gun appears to be a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, capable of firing a 9 mm round,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph said.

Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, NYPD Commissioner Jessica said. Mangione was carrying a firearm and officers found a suppressor, “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said.

Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.

The handwritten document “speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.

Investigators said Monday that Mangione's last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.