The man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street was seen near a Port Authority bus station 46 minutes after the shocking crime, police said, before he made his way to Pennsylvania, where he was eventually arrested.
Thompson was shot from behind outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel Wednesday, Dec. 4, as he was on his way to UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference, officials have said.
Police believe the shooter left the city, triggering an intense manhunt that led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, 26, at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s days later. The accused gunman evaded police for “several days” in Pennsylvania, authorities have said, but his exact whereabouts between the morning of the shooting and his arrest remain a mystery.
Sunday, Nov. 24
10:11 p.m.: The person arrives in New York City. He is seen on video getting off a bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue.
The bus originated in Atlanta but had around six or seven stops on the way, and investigators are unsure where the man got on, Kenny said.
After arriving at the Port Authority, he takes a cab to the vicinity of the Hilton hotel and remains there for around 30 minutes.
Around 11 p.m.: He takes a cab to the hostel on Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Friday, Nov. 29
He was checked out of the hostel, but police believe that was an administrative checkout because he did not appear at a required time.
He checked back in, and police don’t believe he stayed anywhere else. He had two roommates whom he did not know. He kept his mask on the entire time. The man paid in cash but gave an ID.
“We believe that the identification was fraudulent,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Wednesday, Dec. 4
About 5:30 a.m.: He leaves the hostel. Police believe he is on a bicycle.
5:41 a.m.: Video has him at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, at the Hilton.
“We have him wandering around, walking in the vicinity of the hotel, walking on 54th Street, walking back and forth,” Kenny said.
The man enters a Starbucks at some point and makes a purchase.
6:44 a.m.: The killing occurs. Thompson is shot from behind and is then shot more times.
Three pieces of ammunition recovered had “deny,” “delay” and “depose” written on them in marker, one on each, Kenny said.
6:48 a.m.: The man is seen entering Central Park at 60th Street.
6:56 a.m.: He is seen out of the park on Central Park West, still with the bicycle.
6:58 a.m.: He is at 85th Street and Columbus Avenue, with the bicycle.
7 a.m.: He is northbound at 86th Street, and no longer has the bicycle.
7:04 a.m.: He is seen getting into a taxi northbound at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
7:30 a.m.: He is seen in the vicinity of the George Washington Bridge, near a Port Authority bus station.
A combined $60,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman.
Wednesday, Dec. 4 — Monday, Dec. 9
Before his arrest in central Pennsylvania, Mangione spent time on both ends of the Keystone State, authorities said.
“This suspect traveled between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, making stops in between,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday.
Shapiro and other state officials pleaded with the public to help them pinpoint Mangione’s whereabouts.
“We know that he’s been in Pennsylvania for several days and so part of that investigation will also focus on trying to retrace his steps,” state police Lt. Col. George Bivens said during a news conference. “We’ve already identified businesses, for example, that he frequented in this area and activities that he engaged in. That led us to more evidence, so all of that has become a mountain of evidence that we have to analyze.”
Monday, Dec. 9
9:14 a.m.: Altoona Police Department officers were sent to a McDonald’s for “reports of a male matching the description of the United Healthcare CEO murder suspect.”
A responding officer asked the suspect to lower his mask before asking him if he had been to New York City recently. The man then “became quiet and started to shake,” police said.
“He became visibly nervous, kind of shaking at that question,” Altoona Chief of Police Derek Swope said. “He didn’t really answer it directly. So that statement alone really said a lot. The suspect didn’t have to say a lot after that question.”
The man is taken in for questioning.
Around 1:45 p.m.: New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that Mangione, then considered a person of interest, had been arrested on firearm charges in Altoona.
Around 6:45 p.m.: After a preliminary arraignment in a Pennsylvania courtroom, Mangione was charged with forgery, possession of a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of a crime and providing false identification to law enforcement authorities
Around 10:45 p.m.: Online court records show that Manhattan prosecutors formally charged Mangione with Thompson’s murder. He was also charged with three counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of possession of a forged instrument.
Tuesday, Dec. 10
1:40 p.m. Mangione struggled with guards as they tried to lead him into Blair County, Pennsylvania, court.
“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience,” he yelled while tussling with three guards who pushed him into the courthouse.
He was denied bail and vowed to fight extradition to New York.