Luigi Mangione allegedly laid out his plot to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a spiral notebook, including a chilling “to-do list” and plans considering using a bomb in the Manhattan attack.
The notebook was found alongside a 262-word manifesto, a ghost gun, silencer and false ID cards in the shooting suspect’s possession at the time of his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Monday, according to CNN.
Inside the notebook was a to-do list outlining tasks to be completed to carry out the killing, as well as notes that justified those plans, a source told the network.
In one of the notes, Mangione allegedly mused about different methods of murder, including the possibility of bombing Manhattan.
But, the note shows the 26-year-old suspect decided against using explosives over concerns this “could kill innocents”, the source said.
The source added that the notebook shows the suspect decided to carry out a more targeted attack, musing what could be better than “to kill the CEO at his own bean-counting conference.”
UnitedHealthcare was holding an investors’ conference in Manhattan on the day that Thompson was killed and the CEO was set to present the company’s finances to staff at the event.
New York Police Department Chief Detective Joe Kenny said the suspect mentioned going to the conference site in the notebook, CNN reported.
In another passage, Mangione allegedly wrote about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, the source said.
Prior to the shooting, Mangione had given Kaczynski’s manifesto a positive review on Goodread and urged members at his book club to read his memoir.
Along with the spiral notebook, the three-page, 262-word handwritten manifesto has been described by police as a “claim of responsibility” for the shooting.
Kenny said its content hints at a motive, indicating “ill will towards corporate America.”
In it, the suspect allegedly insists he acted alone and rails against the healthcare industry, saying the US has the “most expensive healthcare system in the world” while ranking 42nd in global life expectancy rankings.
He is said to have also apologized for any trauma caused and spoken of his respect for federal investigators, before noting that “these parasites had it coming,” according to The New YorkTimes.
The suspect was driven by disdain for “corporate greed” in America and the health insurance industry, the paper reported.
“He appeared to view the targeted killing of the company’s highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and ‘power games,’ asserting in his note he is the ‘first to face it with such brutal honesty,’” a police report about the document, obtained by the Times, read.
On Tuesday, Mangione appeared in court in Pennsylvania where he was denied bail and fought extradition to New York, where he is facing murder charges for the December 4 shooting. He also faces weapons charges in Pennsylvania.
The Independent has contacted the NYPD for more information.
