Person Of Interest In CEO's Death Charged With 5 Crimes

Latest update: Luigi Mangione has been charged with five crimes in Blair County, Pennsylvania.

Charges include: firearms not to be carried without a license, forgery, tampering with records, false identification to law enforcement, and possessing an instrument of a crime. He was arraigned on Monday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 23, court records show.

Original story:

MANHATTAN, NY — Authorities say they have arrested a person of interest on gun charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan last week.

Authorities are questioning a 26-year-old man named Luigi Mangione in Altoona, Pennsylvania in connection with the fatal shooting, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

The man was at an Altoona McDonald's when an employee recognized him from the surveillance photos the NYPD released last week, Tisch said.

Altoona police were called and the man was taken in for questioning. That's where police discovered a fake ID card identical to the one the suspect had used to check into a hostel on the Upper West Side before the shooting, a computer, a handwritten manifesto about health care companies, and a gun similar to the one used in the killing, Tisch said.

Mangione is from Maryland, and his most recent home address is in Honolulu, Hawaii, FBI special agent Leslie Rodrigues Backschies said during the press conference.

"At this time, he is believed to be our person of interest in the brazen, targeted murder of Brian Thompson," Tisch said at a press conference Monday. "NYPD detectives are en route to Pennsylvania as we speak."

In the past two days, the NYPD has also found two new pieces of evidence — a backpack suspected to belong to the killer and additional photos of the masked suspect exiting a taxi.

In the backpack, authorities found monopoly money and some clothing, according to the New York Daily News.

"This is a strong person of interest," Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday. "He matches the description of the identification we've been looking for. He's also in possession of several items that we believe will connect him to this incident."

Background

A masked gunman shot and killed Thompson, 50, outside Hilton Club The Residences — a large Midtown hotel where the health care company had planned to hold its annual investor day — between 6:44 and 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday.

Minutes later, the gunman hopped on an electric bicycle — which NYPD later confirmed was not a CitiBike — and disappeared into Central Park, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.

From there, the suspect took a taxi to Port Authority Bus Terminal, according to Kenny.

Police have video of the man entering the bus station but no video of him exiting, leading them to believe he left the city, Kenny said.

Leading up to the shooting, the gunman was staying at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side, police said.

The only photo of the suspect's face so far is when he removed his mask to speak to the hostel's receptionist, police said.

The FBI has announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the gunman’s arrest — on top of the combined $10,000 already offered by Crime Stoppers and the police department.

UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, is the largest insurer in the United States by market share. As of 2023, it employed or was affiliated with approximately 10 percent of all physicians in the United States.

This is a developing story and may be updated. This article was last updated at 6:00 p.m. Monday. For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.