A wanted poster for the suspect in the targeted shooting in New York City last week of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Pennsylvania police on Monday arrested a Maryland native who is being called a “strong person of interest” in the case. Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images.
The man who was arrested in Pennsylvania Monday and described by police as a “strong person of interest” in the New York City shooting last week of a prominent health care executive is a Towson native and cousin of a Maryland state lawmaker.
New York law enforcement authorities said that Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested and taken into custody at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he had a gun thought to be similar to the one used in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was slain Wednesday outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione was in possession of what New York police described as a “ghost gun” made with a 3D printer and a “handwritten document that speaks to his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said. Police also said they recovered a silencer, a mask and clothing similar to that worn by the shooter, a passport and multiple fake IDs, including a bogus New Jersey ID the shooter used to check into a New York City hostel.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonalds, where he was recognized by an employee.
Mangione comes from a large and high-profile family in the Baltimore area, with branches of the family that own the Turf Valley and Hayfields country clubs in Ellicott City and WCBM Radio, among other businesses.
WBAL-TV in Baltimore reported that Luigi Mangione was valedictorian of the Class of 2016 at the Gilman School and later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. The office of Del. Nino Mangione (R-Baltimore County) confirmed to the TV station that the lawmaker is a cousin.
Nino Mangione, a radio host at WCBM who was elected to the General Assembly in 2018, did not immediately respond to calls and an email from Maryland Matters seeking comment Monday. The Gilman School did not immediately respond to a request to confirm that Luigi Mangione was a student there.
Thompson, 50, was shot several times by a person who authorities believe was lying in wait early Wednesday morning outside the Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare was holding an investors meeting.
A spokesperson for the Blair County District Attorney’s Office in Pennsylvania said it would release a statement later Monday. New York Police detectives were said to be en route to Altoona, about 300 miles away.
Thompson had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest for-profit health insurance providers, for nearly three years. His killing has prompted an outpouring of criticism of the company and the United States’ health care system generally for denying or unnecessarily complicating medical treatment.
– This breaking news story may be updated. Danielle J. Brown of Maryland Matters and Peter Hall of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star contributed to this report.