The man behind the shooting of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson has been identified.
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old tech enthusiast and former Ivy League student from Towson, Maryland shot and killed the healthcare executive in what has now been confirmed to have been a targeted attack last Wednesday (December 4).
Mangione was taken into custody earlier today (December 9) after being apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, putting an end to an intensive search by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
The 26-year-old allegedly conducted the crime due to his personal experiences with the healthcare system—as he stated in a manifesto he had with him at the moment of his capture—confirming theories that the killing was made in protest of UnitedHealth’s controversial handling of customers.
A 26-year-old Ivy League student has been identified as the responsible of the murder of UnitedHealth’s CEO Brian Thompson
Mangione also had with him the silenced firearm with which he committed the crime, as well as four fake ID’s and the aforementioned manifesto.
The document reportedly criticized the U.S. healthcare system, condemning its massive profits and unethical practices, many of which were directly attributed to UnitedHealth, the largest insurer in the country.
At the moment of his murder, the CEO was accused of insider trading and was the subject of an ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation.
According to legal documents, Thomspon had allegedly offloaded 31 percent of his UnitedHealth stock—totaling $15.1 million—just months before the public was made aware of a federal probe into the company.
Adding to the intrigue, the shooting comes at a time when the company was facing increasing scrutiny over its practices, with more than 33,000 pending lawsuits accusing the usurer of denying coverage to patients in need, particularly the elderly.
His capture confirms netizens’ theories of the killing having been motivated by revenge, as stated by the criminal’s manifesto
Bored Panda readers, as well as netizens at large, correctly predicted that the murder was an act of revenge for denied services, as law enforcement sources confirmed that Mangione had a deep resentment toward the medical community, linked to the treatment of a sick family member.
According to online obituaries, Mangione’s grandmother passed away in 2013, and his grandfather four years later in 2017. The 26-year-old also briefly worked at an assisted-living facility in 2014 during his high school years, further attuning him to the financial and medical woes of elderly patients.
Besides his sympathy towards the sick, Mangione was also an impeccable student, being a former valedictorian at Baltimore’s Gilman School. He pursued studies in artificial intelligence, with a focus on computer and cognitive science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mangione, however, was described as having subscribed to anti-capitalist ideologies, and showed a fascination with Ted Kaczynski, the infamous domestic terrorist known as the “Unabomber.”
Netizens expressed little sympathy towards the CEO, believing his death to be “just desserts” for the company’s alleged crimes
“UHC has the highest claim denial rate by insurance companies. Greed can kill people, you know,“ a viewer stated.
“Hard to muster many tears for a guy who ran a company that exploited the sick and dying for profit,“ wrote one reader.
Others hoped for the murder to serve as some sort of alert for the healthcare industry.
“Not condoning the action, but hopefully, this is a wake-up call. Greed creates a lot of problems. People struggle to get covered and stay covered,“ one said.
“Will the resulting spotlight on a failing system save millions of people from dying at the expense of corporate profits? Will he be acquitted?” another asked.
On the other hand, some readers expressed concern at Mangione’s ideological leadings, believing them to be the cause of his criminal behavior.
“When you allow the discourse we’ve been getting from the administration and faculty of Ivy League schools, what kind of people do you think they will crank out? Well, here’s one of the results,” a reader said.
“So a privileged kid radicalized by our wonderful higher education system it seems,” another stated.
“I can fix him.” While some readers focused on the crime, others decided to pay attention to the criminal’s chiseled physique
