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Mangione being held at State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
CNN reports that Mangione is being held at State Correctional Institution (SCI) in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, according to Maria Bivens, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ press secretary.
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Here are some more details on how the arrest unfolded, via the Associated Press:
Mangione was sitting in the rear of the McDonald’s wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop computer, court documents said. A customer saw him and an employee called 911, said Kaz Daughtry, an NYPD deputy commissioner.
Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye said he and his partner recognised the suspect immediately when he pulled down his mask. “We just didn’t think twice about it. We knew that was our guy,” he said.
When one of the officers asked if he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” according to a criminal complaint based on their accounts of the arrest.
Are ghost guns legal to own?
While buying and building a ghost gun is legal at the federal level, they’ve become more tightly regulated during the Biden administration.
In 2022, the ATF created a new rule that put certain elements of ghost gun kits in the same legal category as traditional firearms and required companies that sell kits to add serial numbers to incomplete frames and receivers and conduct a background check on prospective buyers. It also requires federally licensed gun dealers to keep records on ghost gun kit sales until they go out of business.
This action, however, was quickly decried by kit makers, second amendment activists and attorneys who mounted legal challenges to the rule, who argued that the ATF overstepped its authority.
This legal fight is now the subject of the Garland v VanDerStok case currently in front of the supreme court, for which oral arguments were heard on 8 October, with the justices signaling a willingness to uphold the ATF’s regulations.
How long have ghost guns been around?
Once a niche hobby among gun enthusiasts, do-it-yourself gun kits have been around since the 1990s. But since the early 2010s, they’ve been increasingly used in high-profile shootings.
In California, where cities and state officials have filed lawsuits against kit makers and outlawed the sale of kits, several high-profile shootings have been tied to ghost guns in the past decade.
Homemade guns were used in a 2013 mass shooting in Santa Monica, a 2014 bank robbery in Stockton and a shooting spree in rural Tehama county that killed six in 2017. In 2019, a 16-year-old killed two students and injured three others before killing himself with a ghost gun at a school in Santa Clarita.
The next year, as protests over police violence filled city streets, Steven Carrillo used a homemade machine gun to shoot two security guards at a federal building in Oakland and a sheriff’s deputy in an ambush in Santa Cruz.
And in 2022, a man who was barred from owning a gun because of a domestic violence restraining order used a ghost gun to shoot and kill his three daughters, a man who was supervising their visitation and then himself. These cases have heightened awareness of ghost guns and helped police realize that these are unique weapons – not just guns with their serial numbers filed off.
Still, the number of ghost guns that have been recovered by police has only grown. In 2022, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives confiscated 25,785 ghost guns in the US compared with 1,629 in 2017, according to data from the US Department of justice and ATF.
The New York Times, citing an unnamed senior law enforcement official, reports that the manifesto document found on Luigi Mangione when he was arrested, “mentions UnitedHealthcare by name, noting the size of the company and how much money it makes”.
What is a ‘ghost gun’?
“Ghost gun” is a term broadly used to describe firearms that are bought as incomplete frames and receivers, the two primary components of a firearm, and can be turned into functional guns by assembling it with other parts that can be ordered separately.
Their colloquial name is based on their virtual invisibility in the eyes of law enforcement. Prior to 2022, gun kits could be sold without serial numbers or being registered and buyers didn’t have to meet minimum age requirements or pass a background check to get one shipped to them.
3D printers have also been used to build fully functional guns, gun parts and accessories.
They first came to prominence as a gunsmithing tool in the early and mid-2010s after Cody Wilson, a major proponent of 3D printed and ghost guns, founded Defense Distributed, which offers the digital schematics needed to make a gun.
While an Obama-era law that sought to stop the distribution of these files was upheld in 2019, ambiguity around their legality means the schematics can still be found online.
Where things stand
If you’re just tuning in:
Authorities have arrested the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson in a shooting outside a Manhattan hotel last week, New York City officials said on Monday, ending a five-day manhunt.
The suspect, identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s by an employee of the fast food restaurant who believed he resembled the gunman, officials said at a news conference.
Mangione was led into the Blair County courthouse in Altoona for his arraignment on Monday night, where gun and forgery charges were read against him. The judge asked Mangione if he understood the charges against him, and he said he did. No plea was entered.
Prosecutors, citing false IDs and a large sum of cash found on Mangione, argued he was a flight risk and asked that bail be denied, which it was.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said he expected Mangione to face charges in New York shortly.
The friend, RJ, is being interviewed on CNN is asked whether Mangione had written privately about health care or capitalism.
The friend said that he talked about social issues and how to improve the world, in conversations that were “natural” if you were inquisitive, he says.
He never had a conversation where Mangione talked about guns or violence, the friend says.
CNN is interviewing a former class- and roommate of Mangione’s.
He says that what is happening is “unfathomable”.
He describes Mangione as a “thoughtful person, [he] communicated very well, was friendly.”
He led a book club and loved hiking.
Here is what police say they found in Mangione’s backpack:
After Mangione provided his real name and birth date, he was taken into custody on charges of forgery and false identification to law enforcement, court documents say.
In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed pistol and a 3D-printed black silencer, the papers say.
The pistol had a metal slide and plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel. It had one loaded Glock magazine with six 9 mm full metal jacket rounds and one loose 9 mm hollow-point round.
The press conference officially wrapped up. Police and law enforcement indicated the investigation is ongoing and people could expect additional updates in the coming days from the NYPD.
They did note Mangione may be taken to a state correctional facility later this evening.
Officer Tyler Frye, who has only been on the job for about six months, and a fellow officer responded to the McDonald’s where the suspect was spotted, the AP reports.
They asked him to pull his blue medical mask down and “recognized him immediately” Frye said. “We didn’t even think twice about it, we knew that was our guy.”
Frye said, “It feels good to get a guy like that off the street, especially starting my career this way, it feels great.”
Blair County district attorney Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was carrying a passport and $10,000 in cash – $2,000 of it in foreign currency.
Mangione disputed the amount.
He was also found with a box of masks, the prosecutor said, the AP reports.
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Mangione was initially cooperative, but is no longer cooperating, the authorities said.
Authorities say Mangione has been in Pennsylvania for some days
There were a number of items found on his person that police have begun to do an analysis of including electronic devices that are in the process of being downloaded, authorities said. They obtained search warrants to go through it.
Mangione has also been in Pennsylvania for several days. The police is now attempting to retrace his steps over the past few days in New York and Pennsylvania.
Authorities said they are still trying to determine whether there are any accomplices or actors and whether there were any other targets.
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Altoona police said Mangione has not made any statements since his arrest to their knowledge.
Altoona police said Mangione’s arrest was “peaceful”. The police approached him and asked him if he had been in NY recently and they said he had a “physical” response to that and became visibly nervous.
The suspect was just arraigned, Shapiro confirmed. And New York will file charges “very soon”, he said.
While Shapiro said the attention to the case was helpful in allowing the police to identify and find Mangione, he said the discourse online has been “deeply disturbing”.
“Some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killing,” Shapiro said. “Brian Thompson was a father to two, he was a husband and he was a friend to many. And yes, he was the CEO of a health insurance company. In America, we do not kill people in cold bold to resolve policy differences or express a view point. I understand people have frustrations with our healthcare system … but I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most. In a civil society, we are all less safe when ideologues engage in vigilante justice. In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this, he is no hero. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 in the McDonalds this morning.”
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Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro makes statement
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is taking the podium.
He thanked law enforcement in Altoona and the NYPD for their work. “I just concluded a briefing with Mayor Adams and Commissioner Tisch in New York,” he said.
Shapiro also lauded the individual who recognized Mangione in the McDonalds in Altoona and alerted police.
“I want to begin by thanking our fellow Pennsylvania resident … the Pennsylvania resident saw something in a McDonalds and said something.”
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Police are providing updates now.
They said when they first approached Luigi Mangione, he provided a fake ID and was subsequently arrested on a forgery charge.
They later found a passport that correctly identified him as Luigi Mangione.
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Suspect arraigned on firearm and forgery charges
The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has been charged with weapons, forgery and other crimes in Pennsylvania after being arrested at a McDonald’s on Monday morning, the AP reports.
A police criminal complaint charged him with forgery, carrying firearms without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing an instrument of crime and providing false identification to law enforcement.
The 26-year-old suspect, identified by police as Luigi Nicholas Mangione, began shaking when police asked if he had been in New York recently, court records said.
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Altoona police department is expected to hold another press conference at 6.30pm ET at Blair county courthouse, according to the police spokesperson.
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Suspect arrives for preliminary arraignment
Luigi Mangione was seen arriving at a Blair county, Pennsylvania, courthouse for preliminary arraignment. Videos posted by Fox News anchor Tom Haynes on X show Mangione dressed in all black with his arms behind his back.
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Officials are looking into an image of an X-ray of a spine that is displayed on Mangione’s X profile to determine who it belongs to and whether it has anything to do with the killing of Brian Thompson, law enforcement officials told NBC News.
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Pennsylvania police have released the official mugshot of Luigi Mangione.
In the image, Mangione is seen wearing a black padded jacket and a black snood.
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Suspect expected to appear for preliminary arraignment on gun charges
Mangione has been scheduled to appear in court at Blair county courthouse in Pennsylvania at approximately 6pm ET for a preliminary arraignment on gun charges, according to a courthouse spokesperson.
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Mangione was a member of the UPenn chapter of Phi Kappa Psi. But a person who was also in the fraternity and spoke anonymously to the New York Times said he had heard that Mangione stopped speaking to many people from college over the last year. This particular person told the Times that he last spoke to Mangione in February 2023 around the time he suffered a spine injury.
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TrueCar says Mangione has not worked for company since 2023
On his LinkedIn profile, Luigi Mangione listed TrueCar Inc., a publicly traded new and used car-buying marketplace, as his employer since 2021. Mangione listed his current role as a data engineer. However, a TrueCar spokesperson said that he had not worked at the company for some time.
“While we generally don’t comment on personnel matters, we can confirm that Luigi Mangione has not been an employee of our company since 2023,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
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Headmaster of suspect's school calls arrest 'deeply distressing'
The headmaster of Gilman School, the private all-boys school Luigi Mangione graduated from in 2016, said the news of Mangione’s arrest is “deeply distressing”.
“We recently became aware that the person arrested in connection with the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is a Gilman alumnus, Luigi Mangione, Class of 2016,” Gilman Headmaster Henry P. A. Smyth wrote in an email to the school community. “We do not have any information other than what is being reported in the news.”
“This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected,” Smyth continued.
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Hi there, Johana Bhuiyan taking over from Anna Betts.
Here’s the latest. Police recovered a handwritten document on Luigi Mangione when they apprehended him that detailed his motivations. One line from the document read: “These parasites had it coming,” according to CNN. “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done,” it continued.
In the document, Mangione went on to detail his frustrations with the healthcare industry, asking why the US has the most expensive healthcare in the world but is rated 42 in life expectancy. The US was ranked 49th in life expectancy as of 2022 and is expected to drop to 66th in the world in 2050, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The note also said he was self-funded and acted alone.
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Summary of the day so far
If you’re just joining us, here is what has happened in the last few hours:
News broke earlier today that police had detained and were questioning a 26-year-old man in Pennsylvania in connection with the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, in New York City.
At a news conference, Police confirmed that they had arrested the 26-year-old, named Luigi Mangione, at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He has been named as a person of interest. He was born and raised in Maryland.
New York authorities said that responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a US passport.
Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on the man, as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder.
When he was arrested, police said that he was in possession of a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, that had the capability of firing a 9mm round and a suppressor.
Police also recovered a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID the man used to check into the New York City hostel before the shooting incident.
Police also found a handwritten document on the man, that spoke to both his motivation and mindset, officials said. The details of the letter have not yet been released.
They also recovered clothing on the man, including a mask consistent with those worn by the gunman, authorities said.
NYPD detectives are en route to Pennsylvania right now to interview the subject further, officials said.
Authorities say that as of now, they believe that the person of interest acted alone.
A spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania confirmed to the Guardian that Mangione had received his bachelor of science in engineering and master of science in engineering at the school.
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A Penn spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian that Luigi Mangione had received his bachelor of science in engineering and master of science in engineering at the school.
UnitedHealthcare releases statement after arrest of suspect
In a statement to the Guardian, a UnitedHealthcare spokesperson responded to the news of the arrest of a person of interest in connection with the killing of Brian Thompson.
“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,” the statement 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.”
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The Altoona police department in Pennsylvania said that officers were dispatched to the McDonald’s at 9:14am this morning, after receiving reports of a male matching the description of the United Healthcare CEO murder suspect.
“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” the police department said in a statement. “Officers made contact with the male who was subsequently arrested on unrelated charges.”
At this time, the Altoona police department is cooperating with local, state, and federal agencies, they said, adding that more information will be released later this evening.
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It appears that Luigi Mangione was interviewed by University of Pennsylvania publication – Penn Today – in 2018 about starting a video game development club.
“In high school, I started playing a lot of independent games and stuff like that, but I wanted to make my own game, and so I learned how to code,” Mangione, who is described as “Mangione, a junior from Baltimore” said.
“In my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I learned [on my own] how to program, and that’s why I’m a computer science major now; that’s how I got into it,” he added. “I just really wanted to make games.”
He and another student decided to start University of Pennsylvania Game Research and Development Environment (UPGRADE), the article states, a club where students develop their own video games.
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Authorities believe suspect acted alone
Authorities say that as of now, they believe that the person of interest acted alone.
“We believe at this point — our investigation is leaning toward he was acting alone,” said Joseph Kenny, the New York City police department chief of detectives.
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On what appears to be Mangione’s GoodReads account, the 26-year-old reviewed the Unabomber’s book, giving it four stars out of five.
In his lengthy review, Magnione described Ted Kaczynski’s “In Industrial Society and Its Future” as a book “clearly written by a mathematics prodigy” adding that it “reads like a series of lemmas on the question of 21st century quality of life.”
“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.”
He adds: “He was a violent individual - rightfully imprisoned - who maimed innocent people. While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
Later in the review, he states:
These companies don’t care about you, or your kids, or your grandkids. They have zero qualms about burning down the planet for a buck, so why should we have any qualms about burning them down to survive?
We’re animals just like everything else on this planet, except we’ve forgotten the law of the jungle and bend over for our overlords when any other animal would recognize the threat and fight to the death for their survival. “Violence never solved anything” is a statement uttered by cowards and predators.
Luigi Mangione was eating at the McDonald’s when an employee recognized him, police say.
Police report that Mangione attended college in Pennsylvania. His LinkedIn page indicates he studied at the University of Pennsylvania for both his undergraduate education and his master’s degree, graduating in 2020.
His most recent employment appears to have been in Santa Monica, California, per his Linkedin.
The document found on the person of interest is a three-page handwritten document, police said.
Updated
Suspect had ghost gun that can be made on 3D printer, capable of firing 9mm rounds
Mangione, the person of interest, has been arrested on firearm charges, authorities said.
When he was arrested, police said that he was in possession of a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, that had the capability of firing a nine millimeter round and a suppressor.
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The police have not released the details of what was written in the document they obtained on the person of interest, but said that “it does seem that he has some some ill will toward corporate America”.
Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives for the New York police department, said that “there’s numerous lynchpins in this case” adding that authorities “recovered an enormous amount of forensic evidence”.
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Suspect taken into custody; he was born and raised in Maryland, authorities say
The person of interest, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was taken into custody today in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
He was born and raised in Maryland, officials said, with ties to San Francisco, California, and his last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii.
He has no prior arrest history in New York, police said.
Updated
NYPD detectives are on route to Pennsylvania right now to interview the subject further, officials said.
“This apprehension is thanks to the tireless work of the greatest detectives in the world and, of course, the strong relationships we have with our local law enforcement partners on every level, local, state and federal” Tisch said.
Police recovered mask and clothes consistent with those worn by gunman, officials say
The police also recovered clothing on the man, including a mask consistent with those worn by the gunman, authorities said.
Police also recovered a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID the man used to check into the New York City hostel before the shooting incident.
Additionally, officers recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset, said Jessica Tisch, New York’s police commissioner.
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Suspect recognized while at McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania
The suspect was at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania and was recognized by an employee who then called local police.
New York authorities said that responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a US passport.
Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on the man, as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder.
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New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, says at a news conference that they found the person of interest through “good old fashioned police work”.
“We have a strong person of interest in the shooting that shook our city” he said.
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Luigi Mangione, 26, named as person of interest in shooting
New York officials have named Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old male, as their person of interest.
“At this time, he is believed to be our person of interest in the brazen targeted murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare” said Jessica Tisch, New York City’s police commissioner.
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Person of interest has been arrested on local charges – report
The man being questioned in connection with the fatal shooting of the United HealthCare CEO has reportedly been arrested on local charges, according to CNN and the New York Times.
When the man was detained at McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, today, the person of interest reportedly showed the police the same fake New Jersey identification that the man believed to be the gunman presented when he checked into a hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on 24 November, according to a senior law enforcement official.
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The New York mayor, Eric Adams, is expected to discuss the news in this case at a press conference scheduled for 1.30pm ET today.
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The gun on the suspect, which reportedly matches the gun believed to have been used in the shooting, is what investigators believe was a ghost gun, a senior law enforcement official told the New York Times.
Ghost guns are unregistered and untraceable as they are created by assembling pieces.
Police say they found a manifesto on the person of interest – report
Police say that they found a handwritten manifesto on the person of interest in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
A senior law enforcement official told the New York Times that the manifesto criticized healthcare companies for putting profits above care.
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Police are questioning 26-year-old man in Pennsylvania in connection with shooting – report
Police are reportedly questioning a 26-year-old man named Luigi Mangione in Pennsylvania in connection with the New York City shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.
Officials told CNN that they found on him a gun with a suppressor, multiple fake IDs, and some documents that investigators also want to examine.
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