Luigi Mangione, Suspect in Murder of Insurance CEO Brian Thompson, 'Started to Shake' When Police Questioned Him

Mar. 15, 2025

Luigi Mangione.Photo:NYPDnews/X; Luigi Mangione/X

NYPDnews/X; Luigi Mangione/X

Theman suspected of shootingUnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arraigned on Monday, Dec. 9 in Hollidaysburg, Penn.

Luigi Mangione is charged with five counts, per court papers: one felony count of forgery, one felony count of carrying afirearm without a license, one misdemeanor count of tampering with records or identification, one misdemeanor count of possessing instruments of a crime and one misdemeanor count of false identification to law enforcement authorities.

During the arraignment, the judge read the entire criminal complaint out loud, perCNN. He was ordered held without bail and did not enter a plea. He is set to appear in court next on Dec. 23 in Pennsylvania.

Mangione, 26, whose last known address was in Honolulu, was identified as a person of interest in Thompson’s shooting in midtown Manhattan last week, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference earlier on Dec. 9.

Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., on firearms charges after an employee recognized him from photos the NYPD had circulated nationwide. The employee called local police, Tisch said at the press conference.

According to the criminal complaint, Mangione allegedly gave a responding officer a New Jersey driver’s license with a false name. While the officer “an the information through the dispatch center,” another officer asked Mangione if he had been to New York recently. Mangione allegedly “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint reads.

Officers couldn’t find any information from the New Jersey license Mangione allegedly provided. They told him he was under “official police investigation” and would be arrested if he lied about who he was. Mangione then allegedly told police he was Luigi Mangione with a birth date of May 6, 1998, according to the papers. When officers asked him why he lied, Mangione allegedly said, “I clearly shouldn’t have.”

“Responding officers questioned the suspect who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a U.S. passport,” Tisch said.

He was also carrying a firearm and suppressor, “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” and a manifesto against health care companies, Tisch alleged.

Police believe Mangione used a so-called “ghost gun” that he may have made from a 3D printer, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at the press conference.

The criminal complaint alleges that both the pistol, described as having a “metal slide and a plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel,” and silencer were 3D-printed. The pistol had “one loaded Glock magazine with six nine-millimeter full metal jacket rounds,” the document alleges. During a search of Mangione’s backpack, police also allegedly found “one loose nine-millimeter hollow point round.”

An image of the suspect sought in the Dec. 4 shooting of CEO Brian Thompson.NYPD News/X

NYPD News/X

Thompson, 50, a father of two from Minnesota, was fatally shot outside the New York Midtown Hilton hotel on Dec. 4 in what police called a “brazen, targeted attack,” The shooter fled the scene on an electric Citibike he rode into Central Park.

When he was caught on videotape exiting Central Park, he was still riding the bike, but was no longer carrying the backpack.

NYPD detectives scoured the park and found the backpack on Saturday, Dec. 7, containing a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money,NBC News,ABC NewsandThe New York Postreported on Saturday.

Brian Thompson (left), Shooting Suspect (right).UnitedHealth Group; NYPD

UnitedHealth Group; NYPD

The manifesto — the handwritten document officers allegedly found on Mangione when he was apprehended — “speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.

Tisch did not reveal exactly what the manifesto contains.

Kenny hinted at what it could contain when he said it seems that Mangione “has some ill will towards corporate America." A source told PEOPLE said it assailed the health care industry.

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Mangione grew up in Towson, Md. PEOPLE confirms he was the high school valedictorian at the Gilman School, a prestigious boys prep school in Baltimore. PEOPLE confirms he has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2016, Mangione founded Penn’s Game Research and Development Environment, a club also known asUPGRADE,“The Daily Pennsylvanianreports.

This is a breaking story and will continue to be updated.

source: people.com