The gun seized during Luigi Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania this week matches the shell casings found at the scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder, police say.
Fingerprints taken from Mangione also match prints on a water bottle and protein bar wrapper found near the scene of the Midtown homicide, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced at a press conference Wednesday.
The lab results mark the first forensic tie between Mangione and the crime scene.
The discoveries come after Mangione’s lawyer, Thomas Dickey, told reporters that he hasn’t “seen any evidence that he’s the shooter.” His client faced an extradition hearing Tuesday in Pennsylvania after New York prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder in connection with last week’s brazen killing in Midtown Manhattan.
“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!” Mangione yelled as he was escorted in handcuffs into the Blair County Courthouse. The 26-year-old was denied bail and will remain in a Pennsylvania jail while he fights extradition to New York.
Authorities are also investigating Mangione’s notebook that laid out his plot to “wack” Thompson at his “parasitic bean-counter convention,” according to The New York Times.
The very online ‘gray tribe’ philosophy of UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect
The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson followed Richard Dawkins and RFK Jr, tweeted about neuroscience and Japanese birth rates, and shared posts about how to think more logically.
The 26-year-old was fascinated by AI and decision theory; pro-technology but anti-smartphones; secular and scientific in his outlook, but in favour of religion on Darwinian grounds.
What does it all mean? Luigi Mangione’s worldview might not be familiar to most Americans, and it’s certainly not a common one among politically-motivated killers. Nevertheless, his social media posts, and the users he engaged with, mark him out indelibly as a very specific type of online person – one that’s intimately familiar to me.
”Increasingly looks like we’ve got our first gray tribe shooter, and boy howdy is the media not ready for that,” wrote the journalist and extremism expert Robert Evans, who analyzed Mangione’s online life earlier this week.
There’s no single accepted name for this loose, extremely online subculture of bloggers, philosophers, shitposters and Silicon Valley coders. “The gray tribe” is one term; ”the rationalist movement” is another.
Read the full story.
‘Wanted’ posters of healthcare execs appear in Manhattan after Brian Thompson murder
The New York Police Department issued a bulletin on Tuesday warning that health insurance executives might be at risk after “wanted” posters featuring their images and salaries appeared around Manhattan.
The bulletin notes that the shooter’s actions could have the “capability to inspire a variety of extremists and grievance-driven malicious actors to violence,” which was first reported by ABC News.
“Both prior to and after the suspected perpetrator’s identification and arrest, some online users across social media platforms reacted positively to the killing, encouraged future targeting of similar executives, and shared conspiracy theories regarding the shooting,” the bulletin added.
Graig Graziosi has the story.
Who is Luigi Mangione, the shooting suspect connected with Brian Thompson’s death?
Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder in connection to the death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside his Manhattan hotel on December 4.
Mangione, 26, was spotted eating a meal inside a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning, with an employee calling the tip into police.
He is currently being held in a Pennsylvania jail without bond as he awaits extradition to New York where he faces a murder charge. He also faces charges for gun law violations in Pennsylvania.
Find out more below:
Dancing with the Stars pro teases partnering up with Luigi Mangione
A pro dancer on Dancing with the Stars has joked about having Luigi Mangione on the next season of the show.
Ezra Sosa, who was partnered with convicted felon Anna Delvey during the most recent season, posted a TikTok with a photo of Mangione in the background. “He finna be my partner season 34 [sic],” he captioned the video.
Mangione was arrested on Monday (December 9) and charged with second-degree murder in connection the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, New York City.
Brittany Miller has the story.
ICYMI: Luigi Mangione’s high school classmate speaks out about CEO murder
“He had a lot of things going for him,” Ellison Jordan, who graduated from the Gilman School alongside 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, told The Independent. “He was always cool people.”
Jordan attended Gilman, a prestigious all-boys prep school in Baltimore, with Mangione, and found him to be “a smart dude,” and “a regular guy,” he said on Tuesday.
“I’m being sensitive to Luigi, because I went to school with him,” Jordan, who has not spoken to the media previously about Mangione, went on. “I hope he didn’t do it. I’m praying he didn’t do it. It’s still ‘allegedly.’ It’s really shocking.”
Justin Rohrlich has the details.
Who is Luigi Mangione’s attorney Thomas Dickey?
Luigi Mangione’s lawyer is a seasoned trial attorney based in Pennsylvania with more than 40 years of experience.
Thomas Dickey was brought onto the case on Tuesday, one day after his client was arrested in a McDonald’s in the town of Altoona. The 26-year-old now faces a second-degree murder charge in connection to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by New York prosecutors who are seeking his extradition to the state.
Dickey said he expects his client will plead not guilty.
Rhian Lubin has the full details.
Congressman calls for ban of 3D-printed ghost guns
Senator Ed Markey has called for the ban of 3D-printed ghost guns, similar to the weapon found on shooting suspect Luigi Mangione and the one used in the killing of Brian Thompson.
The Massachusetts lawmaker proposed the passing of the “3D Printed Gun Safety Act” to stop the “proliferation of these dangerous guns”.
“3D printed ghost guns are untraceable homemade weapons that can evade metal detectors. We must pass my 3D Printed Gun Safety Act and stop the proliferation of these dangerous guns,” the Democrat wrote on X on Wednesday.
The weapon carried by Mangione upon his arrest on Monday, which police believe to be 3D printed, matches there shell casings at the crime scene in Midtown Manhattan last Wednesday, according to NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Comment: The dark truth behind our reaction to Luigi Mangion’s arrest
But once found, the circus didn’t stop there. As well as identifying the suspect, social media sleuths tracked down his LinkedIn, Twitter – even his Goodreads – profiles. And just as fast came the memes, objectification and reactionary vlogs.
First, BookTok began analysing his taste in literature, questioning whether Harry Potter and the Hunger Games books “radicalised” him (in all seriousness, he did review the Unabomber’s manifesto, calling Ted Kaczynski “an extreme political revolutionary”).
Emma Clarke’s analysis in full is below.
Bizarre crypto ‘meme coins’ celebrate Luigi Mangione
Many of the coins listed on crypto sites like pump.fun sport supportive names including “Free Luigi Mangione” and “Justice for Luigi Mangione.”
One such coin, simply named Luigi, launched on Monday, the same day Mangione was charged with murder in New York. It briefly achieved a market capitalization of more than $76 million dollars.
“When someone outside the crypto-bubble … encounters headlines like this, they view it as absolutely insanity,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin told Newsweek of the phenomenon.
How Luigi Mangione ‘went missing’ after back surgery
The suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson went missing and cut off contact with family and friends last month after undergoing back surgery, it has emerged.
While the motive for the attack is still under investigation, new details are emerging about Mangione’s own health issues – and the impact they appear to have had on his life.
James Liddell reports.
Source: independent.co.uk