US police detain ‘person of interest’ in UnitedHealth executive’s murder

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Police have detained a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate as a person of interest in the connection with the murder of a senior UnitedHealth Group executive ahead of an investor event in New York last week.

Local police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, apprehended Luigi Mangione, 26, of Maryland at a McDonald’s restaurant following a tip from a customer, Jessica Tisch, New York Police Department commissioner, said at a press conference on Monday.

Eric Adams, the New York mayor, described Mangione as a “strong person of interest” in possession of several items potentially connected to the crime. Tisch said that NYPD detectives alongside officials from the district attorney’s office were heading to Pennsylvania to interview Mangione.

Mangione was in possession of an untraceable “ghost gun” with a suppressor and fake New Jersey ID card matching the description of those used by the individual suspected of shooting Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the Minnesota-based group’s insurance unit, before dawn on December 4.

Mangione was also carrying a handwritten, three-page document which outlined “some ill will towards corporate America” but did not mention any specific individuals, said Joseph Kenny, the NYPD chief of detectives.

He was detained on firearms charges by authorities in Pennsylvania. “We believe he was acting alone,” added Kenny.

Mangione was an engineering graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, according to a LinkedIn profile of a person matching his description. He was born and raised in Maryland, and his last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii, the NYPD said.

The development comes after a five-day manhunt in which NYPD detectives and federal investigators have criss-crossed the city and nearby states in an attempt to solve the murder that shocked New York and corporate America.

“For just over five days, our NYPD investigators combed through thousands of hours of video, followed up on hundreds of tips and processed every bit of forensic evidence — DNA, fingerprints, IP addresses and so much more — to tighten the net,” said Tisch

The NYPD released CCTV images of the suspect checking into a hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan before the murder and in the back of taxi following the killing. Tisch credited the images with progress in the case: “The images that we shared with the public were spread far and wide and the tips we received led to recovery of crucial evidence,” she said.

Thompson’s murder before dawn on his way to an investor event organised by UnitedHealth Group at a Marriott hotel off Sixth Avenue in midtown Manhattan has raised concerns about the security of high-ranking executives.

The killing has also fuelled a debate about the state of medical care in the world’s costliest healthcare system — UnitedHealthcare is the country’s biggest insurer, covering nearly 50mn Americans. “Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” UnitedHealth said in a statement.

Thompson was shot from behind three times outside the Marriott Midtown hotel at 6.45am local time, and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards at nearby Mount Sinai hospital. Detectives later discovered bullet casings at the scene with inscriptions including “deny” and “defend” — a possible nod to a 2010 book about how insurers deny claims.

Since then the NYPD gradually pieced together the killer’s movements before and after the shooting. The suspect arrived in New York in late November, staying in a hostel on the Upper West Side.

Following the shooting, he first travelled uptown on an e-bike through Central Park, where his backpack was later recovered. Then, he made his way to an interstate bus station, where he boarded a bus out of the city.