Who is Luigi Mangione? Maryland native, UPenn graduate charged in murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO
PHILADELPHIA - As new details about the murder of CEO Brian Thompson emerge, many are wondering: who is Luigi Mangione, what are his ties to Philadelphia and Maryland and what will happen now?
What is happening?
Murder changes have been filed against Luigi Mangione after being captured in Central Pennsylvania. Investigators with the FBI and NYPD have arrived in Blair County, Pennsylvania to begin questioning Mangione.
The 26-year-old Ivy League-educated software engineer with ties to Philadelphia is in custody on gun charges and a suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last Wednesday on a New York sidewalk.
He did not enter a plea in his first court appearance.
How was Mangione found?
A 6-day manhunt ended when police converged on an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald's restaurant after a customer alerted an employee of a man at a table on a laptop fitting the description of the New York shooter.
Police arrived to question Luigi Mangione who started acting nervous when asked by police if he was recently in New York.
"That really invoked an physical reaction from the suspect he became visibly nervous he became visibly nervous, kind of shaking at that question. And he didn’t really answer it directly" said Deputy Chief Derek Swope Deputy of the Altoona Police Department.
Officer Tyler Frye, who has only been on the job for about six months, and a fellow officer responded to the McDonald’s where the suspect was spotted. The officers asked him to pull his blue medical mask down when they immediately recognized the man who was the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
"We didn’t even think twice about it, we knew that was our guy. I can’t say I was expecting it by any means but it feels good to get a guy like that off the street especially starting my career this way" said Frye.
What did officials find?
Police say Mangione, 26, grew up outside of Baltimore was found with clothing and masks similar to those worn by the shooter, a fraudulent New Jersey ID and a 3D printed 9 millimeter ghost gun and suppressors.
Also found, a handwritten 3-paged document that may speak to a motive.
"That document is currently in possession of the Altoona Police Department as part of their investigation. But just briefly speaking we don’t thing there’s any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document. But id does seem that he has some some ill will board corporate America over here in NJ" Joseph Kenny, NYPD Chief of Detectives.
In Pennsylvania, Mangione faces 5 charges including forgery and possessing a gun without a license.
"Based on everything we’ve seen he was very careful staying to stay low profile and avoid cameras" said Lt. Col. George Bivens, PA State Police.
But with his pictures splashed across nationwide media investigators say Mangione had been in Pennsylvania for several days. He was tracked from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh before his capture. Officials thanking the McDonald’s customer and employee who saw something and said something.
"I submit to you today that a resident and Altoona and Altoona Police helped make the New York City a safer place to live’ said Blair County District Attorney Peter J. Weeks.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro warned against those praising the suspects actions.
"In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint," Shapiro said during a Monday night news conference following Mangione’s first court appearance.
Who is Luigi Mangione?
Mangione worked as a software engineer for the online car sales company TrueCar until 2023, according to a company spokesperson.
A spokesperson for Penn confirmed that Mangione graduated with both a Bachelors degree and a Masters within the same semester. Both degrees were in computer science.
According to Mangione’s social media posts, during his time at Penn, he was involved with two fraternities: Eta Kappa Nu, an organization for engineering students, and Phi Kappa Psi, which has a fraternity house near 40th and Spruce streets.
The house was quiet Monday night, but our sister station, FOX 5 in D.C. spoke with one of Mangione’s stunned high school classmates.
The Maryland native is a 2016 graduate of the Gilman School, a prestigious all-boys private school in Baltimore, Maryland.
"At this moment, it's just really surreal to me. I've been in contact with a lot of people that went to my school from the area knew who he was. They're all really devastated and shocked by this news as well," said Corey Wey, a former classmate.
The classmate says that Mangione was a leader.
He was smart, well-liked and involved in clubs.
According to online records, Mangione was the valedictorian of his class.
The Mangione family released the following statement on the matter:
Police say Mangione was originally cooperative with police, but he is no longer. He’s being held in the State Correctional Facility in Huntington County on no bond.