BALTIMORE — The person arrested in connection to Wednesday’s fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City is a Maryland native and former graduate of the Gilman School in Baltimore, according to authorities.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Monday morning when an employee recognized him from photos circulated by authorities and called the police, Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives of the New York Police Department told reporters Monday.
“Responding officers questioned the suspect who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a U.S. passport,” New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. “Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person, as well as a suppressor — both consistent with the weapon used in the murder.”
The gun was an untraceable ghost gun capable of firing 9 mm rounds, Kenny said. “It may have been made on a 3-D printer,” he added, saying police would conduct ballistics testing and investigate how the Mangione got the gun.
Tisch added that the suspect had clothes and a mask consistent with “those worn by our wanted individual.” Police in Pennsylvania also found a “handwritten document that speaks to his motivation and mindset” in the fatal shooting.
Kenny said that the three-page document was in the possession of police in Pennsylvania and that he couldn’t speak to all its contents, but added that it suggested, “it does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America.”
Mangione is not yet charged in Thompson’s shooting and Kenny said authorities in New York would work with their counterparts in Pennsylvania, where he’s expected to face gun charges, on extradition.
Mangione was the valedictorian of his class at Gilman in 2016.
A Gilman classmate, Freddie Leatherbury, said he “almost had a heart attack” from the shock of seeing that Mangione was suspected in the shooting.
“He would be the last one I would think would do something like this,” Leatherbury said. “He was a nice kid. He was the valedictorian.”
Leatherbury said Mangione had joined the private prep school in sixth grade. “He was a brainy kid,” he said. “He was a big math guy,” and belonged to a number of academic clubs.
Another Gilman classmate, Maxwell B. Strome, said he last spoke with Mangione in January 2023. Strome said Mangione had posted on Instagram Story about a book by Tim Urban, “What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies” that he had also read.
Barnes & Noble describes the book as “a deep and expansive analysis of our modern times” by the writer of the popular blog, Wait But Why.
“We talked a little bit,” said Strome, a machine learning engineer in California. “He had left his job and was doing more yoga and reading.”
Gilman Head of School Henry P.A. Smyth sent a message to the school community saying staff only “recently became aware” of Mangione’s arrest.
“This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation,” Smyth said. “Our hearts go out to everyone affected.”
In a statement Monday, a spokesperson for UnitedHealthcare thanked law enforcement, pledged to continue working with police and asked for privacy on behalf of Thompson’s family.
“Our hope is today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” Thompson said.
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