Luigi Mangione He has been indicted in New York for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and a grand jury upgraded the charges to first-degree murder for promoting terrorism, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Mangione, 26, is also charged with: two counts of second-degree murder, one count of murder as an act of terrorism; two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.
The killing in the heart of Midtown Manhattan was “intended to cause panic,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a news conference.
Police line up bullet casings outside United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson at a midtown Manhattan Hilton hotel on December 4, 2024 in New York City.
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Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson outside a hotel on Dec. 4 while the CEO was on his way to an investor conference.
“This type of premeditated and targeted gun violence cannot and will not be tolerated,” Bragg said in a statement Tuesday.
Luigi Mangione is brought to Blair County Court for an extradition hearing on December 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
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In Pennsylvania, where Mangion remains in custody, he faces charges including alleged possession of a the elusive phantom gun.
Bragg said it’s possible Mangion will waive extradition at his next appearance Thursday.
Mangion has hired Karen Friedman Agnifilo as his attorney in New York. He was a 25-year veteran of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and its second in command for eight years.
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson of New York, leaves after an extradition hearing at the Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec. 10, 2024.
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Mangione was arrested At a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, after being on the run for almost a week.
When Mangione was apprehended, he was in possession of a 9mm handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, a homemade silencer, two ammunition magazines and live rounds, prosecutors said.
A New York City police officer stands outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed, on Dec. 4, 2024, in New York.
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Thompson’s killing sparked online outrage against the health insurance industry. Many people online have celebrated the suspect and others Donated to a Mangione defense fund.
“There is no heroism in what Mangione did. It was senseless violence,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Tuesday.
“Any attempt to rationalize this is vile, irresponsible and offensive to our deep principles of justice,” he said.
“It’s just a horrific, cold-blooded murder,” President-elect Donald Trump said of the case at a news conference Monday.
“It’s really amazing that some people seem to admire him, as he does,” Trump said.
“There seems to be some kind of hunger for him. I don’t get it,” Trump added.
Sources said the writings police seized from Mangione suggest he was fixated on UnitedHealthcare for months and gradually developed a plan to kill the CEO.
Among the writings recovered from Mangione was a passage that read, “What do you do? You punch the CEO at the annual bean-to-bargain convention,” according to county officials.
