‘Strong Person of Interest’ Arrested in Murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO

A person of interest in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the New York Times reports.

Luigi Mangione of Towson, Maryland was detained after police received a tip from a McDonald's employee who recognized him.

“He was sitting there eating,” the Police Department’s chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, said at a police briefing following Mangione's arrest.

"Today at 9:14am, Altoona police officers were dispatched to a McDonald’s Restaurant for reports of a male matching the description of the United Healthcare CEO murder suspect," said the Altoona police department in a statement. "Officers made contact with the male who was subsequently arrested on unrelated charges."

Mangione was allegedly in possession of fake identification, which is believed to be the same fake ID he used to rent a room at a hostel in NYC. He was also allegedly in possession of a firearm, a silencer, and a handwritten manifesto. The manifesto is reportedly heavily critical of the healthcare industry.

Police have not released the full details of his manifesto, but noted, "It does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America." Additionally, lines from the two-page document read, "These parasites had it coming" and "I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done."

It was previously reported that the words "delay" and "deny" were inscribed on casings found at the scene of the shooting, a phrase tied to the exploitative practices of the insurance industry.

The New York Post reports that Mangione attended GIlma School in Baltimore and was valedictorian of his 2016 graduating class. He later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Computer and Information Science in 2020. He also completed a Master of Science in Engineering, Computer and Information Science at the same school. In 2018, he was interviewed for the University of Pennsylvania publication Penn Today, in which he spoke about launching a video game development club.

Following the news of his arrest, internet sleuths uncovered his social media accounts, including his X account. Per The Guardian, an account believed to be his GoodReads showed that he shared an appreciation for the book written by Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber. "It’s easy to quickly and thoughtless write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies," the review reads "But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out."

In the same review, Mangione criticized major companies for placing profit above wellbeing and wrote that they "have zero qualms about burning down the planet for a buck."

Police believe Mangione is the same man seen in surveillance photos at various points across New York City around the time of the shooting, which happened on Wednesday, December 4 outside of a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan. They have indicated that, if he is the shooter, he acted alone.

The parent company of UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth, has issued a statement following the arrest of Mangione. "Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues, and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy," a spokesperson for the company said. "We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation. We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn."