Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of fatally capturing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a Midtown Manhattan assault final week, has signalled he’ll battle being extradited to New York to face homicide prices.
Mangione appeared in court docket in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a day after he was arrested within the city of Altoona following a tip from a McDonald’s worker. He was charged with Thompson’s New York killing hours after his arrest, in addition to a slate of lesser offences in Pennsylvania.
Rising from a police automobile, Mangione gave a partly unintelligible message to reporters, though he made reference to an “insult to the intelligence of the American individuals”.
On the temporary listening to, his defence lawyer, Thomas Dickey, informed the court docket that Mangione would contest extradition to New York, requesting a listening to on the problem. He has 14 days to lodge a proper problem to being relocated to New York, and within the meantime, he will likely be held in Pennsylvania with out bail.
Whereas in court docket, Mangione wore an orange jail jumpsuit, alternating between staring ahead, papers and looking out again on the gallery. He was quieted at one level by his lawyer when he tried to talk.
The court docket look got here six days after a gunman fatally shot Thompson, the pinnacle of one of many largest medical health insurance firms in the US, outdoors of a resort in Midtown Manhattan.
The brazen nature of the assault – and the days-long manhunt – garnered nationwide intrigue. Even whereas condemning the violence, many consultants, medical doctors and US residents mentioned it was emblematic of the undercurrent of anger within the nation in the direction of the healthcare business, the place excessive prices go away many sufferers weak to the desire of insurers.
Bullet casings discovered on the scene of the killing bore the phrases “deny”, “defend” and “depose”, showing to reference a phrase utilized by critics to explain how well being insurers keep away from declare payouts. The gunman fled by way of electrical bike to Central Park, and later, he boarded a bus out of the town.
Within the days for the reason that assault, many have taken to social media to share accounts of insurance coverage firms denying claims. The sentiment has led authorities to gird for copycat assaults, in response to a regulation enforcement memo obtained by US media.
The White Home has additionally weighed in.
“Clearly, that is horrific,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed reporters on Tuesday. “Violence to fight any type of company greed is unacceptable.”
Additional particulars emerge
The regulation enforcement memo, which was based mostly on Mangione’s writings, a few of which have been recovered on the time of his arrest, mentioned that Mangione was doubtless motivated by what he described as “parasitic” medical health insurance firms and an general disdain for company greed.
Authorities have mentioned a 3D-printed gun, a suppressor and several other pretend IDs, together with one believed for use by the attacker to test right into a hostel in New York earlier than the capturing, have been recovered when Mangione was arrested.
In accordance with the memo, Mangione had written that the US has the most costly healthcare system on this planet and that earnings of main firms proceed to rise whereas “our life expectancy” doesn’t.
The doc added that Mangione could have been impressed by the so-called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, who he referred to as a “political revolutionary”. Kaczynski had carried out a collection of bombings from the late Seventies to mid Nineteen Nineties railing in opposition to trendy society, know-how and the destruction of the atmosphere. His assaults killed three.
The profile that has emerged since Mangione’s arrest additionally bears some similarities to Kaczynski, who was thought of a maths prodigy.
Mangione comes from an influential household in Baltimore, Maryland, and was the valedictorian at an elite Baltimore prep college. He went on to earn undergraduate and graduate levels in laptop science in 2020 from the College of Pennsylvania, a prestigious Ivy League college.
Often known as affable and clever, some pals have mentioned in interviews with US media that Mangione’s manner modified after latest surgical procedure on his backbone.
“Our household is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s household mentioned in an announcement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Delaware state legislator Nino Mangione.
“We provide our prayers to the household of Brian Thompson, and we ask individuals to hope for all concerned.”
