Police say suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing wasn’t a shopper of the insurer

National News

Luigi Mangione could have focused the corporate due to its measurement and affect, a senior police official mentioned Thursday.

By Related Press

December 12, 2024

2 minutes to learn

NEW YORK (AP) — The person charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was not a shopper of the medical insurer and should have focused it due to its measurement and affect, a senior police official mentioned Thursday.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny informed NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered proof that Luigi Mangione had prior information UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor convention in New York Metropolis.

Mangione additionally talked about the corporate in a be aware present in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania.

“We now have no indication that he was ever a shopper of United Healthcare, however he does make point out that it’s the fifth largest company in America, which might make it the most important healthcare group in America. In order that’s probably why he focused that that firm,” mentioned Kenny.

UnitedHealthcare is within the high 20 largest U.S. corporations by market capitalization however is just not the fifth largest. It’s the largest U.S. well being insurer.

Mangione stays jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, the place he was arrested Monday after being noticed at a McDonald’s within the metropolis of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York Metropolis. His lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, has mentioned Mangione intends to plead not responsible. Dickey additionally mentioned he has but to see proof decisively linking his shopper to the crime.

Mangione’s arrest got here 5 days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson exterior a Manhattan lodge.

Police say the shooter waited exterior the lodge, the place the well being insurer was holding its investor convention, early on the morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him earlier than fleeing on a bicycle via Central Park.

Mangione is combating makes an attempt to extradite him again to New York in order that he can face a homicide cost in Thompson’s killing. A listening to has been scheduled for Dec. 30.

The 26-year-old, who police say was discovered with a “ ghost gun ” matching shell casings discovered on the web site of the capturing, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and offering false identification to police.

Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. In posts on social media, Mangione wrote about experiencing extreme power again ache earlier than present process a spinal fusion surgical procedure in 2023. Afterward, he posted that the operation had been successful and that his ache had improved and mobility returned. He urged others to think about the identical kind of surgical procedure.

On Wednesday, police mentioned investigators are his writings about his well being issues and his criticism of company America and the U.S. well being care system.

Kenny mentioned within the NBC interview that Mangione’s household reported him lacking to San Francisco authorities in November.