The Ivy League graduate suspected of killing Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, is said to have laid out detailed plans for the shooting in a spiral notebook found alongside his alleged manifesto.
Luigi Mangione, 26, allegedly described his intention to “wack [sic] the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention”, according to a copy of the notebook obtained by the New York Times and verified by law enforcement sources. “It’s targeted, precise and doesn’t risk innocents,” the notebook states.
Thompson, 50, was shot multiple times by a masked gunman outside a Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan on December 4 as he arrived at UnitedHealthcare’s yearly investor conference. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday, and is fighting extradition to New York, where he faces a charge of second-degree murder.
Surveillance video captured the shooting of Brian Thompson in Manhattan
AP
The spiral notebook contained a list of tasks to be carried out to complete the killing and offered justifications, a law enforcement source told CNN. It was referenced in a separate handwritten three-page “manifesto” that police say Mangione was carrying when he was arrested.
Mangione allegedly wrote that he had worked alone and was able to carry out the shooting by employing “some elementary social engineering, basic CAD [computer-aided design], a lot of patience”.
Addressed to “The Feds”, the document describes the shooting as “fairly trivial”, according to a full transcript published on Thursday by Ken Klippenstein, an independent American journalist.
The suspect is said to have written that health insurance companies “continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it … I do apologise for any strife or trauma but it had to be done. These parasites had it coming.”
Mangione, who faces charges in New York and Pennsylvania, was denied bail when he appeared at an extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon. On his way into court, a shackled Mangione jostled with police officers and appeared to shout “this is unjust and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and its lived experience”.
Mangione shouted to reporters outside the courtroom in Pennsylvania
Mangione’s lawyer, Thomas Dickey, said on Tuesday that his client intended to plead not guilty to Thompson’s killing. Dickey said he had not seen any evidence linking Mangione to the crime, including the documents that police said he was carrying.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that police had recovered fingerprints at the scene of Thompson’s killing that were a positive match for Mangione.
The suspect is the grandson of a wealthy Baltimore real estate developer. He become the valedictorian — highest-performing pupils — at his private high school and earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the US’s most prestigious colleges.
He appeared to vanish from the lives of his friends and family about six months ago, before emerging as the prime suspect in the assassination of Thompson, who led one of the country’s largest health insurance companies.
Police are investigating whether Mangione may have become radicalised due to his struggles with a chronic back condition and if he was denied insurance coverage. On social media, he appears to have written of being left “completely devastated” by back pain and posted a picture that appeared to show an x-ray of a spinal fusion, with screws through bones.
Images on Mangione’s X profile included a photo that shows screws in bones
Thompson’s killing has given rise to a wave of anger towards the healthcare industry and forced corporate executives to re-examine their security practices.
When he was arrested, Mangione had a black 3D-printed pistol and silencer and a magazine containing six rounds of 9mm ammunition. Prosecutors said he also had a US passport and $10,000 in cash, including $2,000 in a foreign currency.
According to the police charging document, Mangione presented a fake New Jersey ID to the arresting officers in the name of Mark Rosario, which matched an ID the shooter used to check into a New York hostel.
The authorities in New York are working to obtain a warrant from Kathy Hochul, the state’s governor, to extradite him from Pennsylvania.