WASHINGTON — New York City authorities announced Monday that a "strong person of interest" in the targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arrested in Pennsylvania.
The chance sighting at the restaurant in Altoona led to a dramatic break in a challenging but fast-moving investigation that had captivated the public in the five days since the shooting that shook the health insurance industry.
In a press conference Monday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the person of interest arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, has been identified as s 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione.
Who is Luigi Mangione?
Officials in New York said Mangione was a 26-year-old whose last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was born and raised in Maryland, and has ties to San Francisco, authorities said.
The Gilman School, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is one of Baltimore’s elite prep schools. Some of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent people, including Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have had children attend the school. Its alumni include sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington.
In his valedictory speech, Luigi Mangione described his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things,” according to a post on the school website. He praised their collective inventiveness and pioneering mindset.
Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family. His grandfather Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a successful real estate developer. One of his best-known projects was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. The father of 10 children, Nick Mangione prepared his five sons — including Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to help manage the family business, according to a 2003 Washington Post report.
The Mangione family also purchased Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday, Baltimore County police officers blocked off an entrance to the property, which public records link to Luigi Mangione’s parents. A swarm of reporters and photographers gathered outside the entrance.
Luigi Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of Nick Mangione, according to his obituary. Luigi Mangione's grandparents donated to charities through the Mangione Family Foundation, according to a statement from Loyola University commemorating Nick Mangione’s wife’s death in 2023. They donated to various causes ranging from Catholic organizations to colleges and the arts.
One of Luigi Mangione’s cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione. A spokesman for the lawmaker's office confirmed the relationship Monday.
Mangione had learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication.
Officials said he had no prior arrest history in New York and they didn't believe he has an arrest record anywhere in the country.
Kenny revealed Mangione was arrested Monday with a "ghost gun," a type of firearm that can be produced on a 3D printer, allowing the weapon to go undetected and remain unregistered.
Officials from the NYPD and the New York District Attorney's Office were headed to Pennsylvania to question Mangione. Altoona, Pennsylvania, is about 233 miles west of New York City.
Kenny confirmed that Mangione was arrested based on a tip from an employee at the McDonald's where he was eating.
Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, Tisch said. Mangione was carrying a firearm and officers found a suppressor, “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said.
They also found a handwritten three-page document suggesting that Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.
Police said they believe, at this time, that Mangione worked alone and was not a danger to others based on the document found when he was arrested.
His online posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, the New Jersey shore and other destinations.
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching the executive from behind and opening fire, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of photos and video — including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.
Despite the outreach to the public, Mangione's name was not on the radar of police before Tuesday, they said.
Ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics.
The gunman concealed his identity with a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence, including a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza and a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that police say he bought at Starbucks minutes before the attack.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.