Two supervisory officers, who were present during the arrest of Luigi Mangione, accused of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, testified on Thursday. It appears that not all of the 13 officers who were involved in Mr. Mangione’s arrest at a Macdonald’s outside Altoona, Pennsylvania agreed to search the suspect’s backpack without a warrant. 

“I’m not gonna stand there and argue with Corporal Trent over an opinionated suggestion he made at a McDonald’s,” Sergeant John Burns, a 12-year veteran of the Altoona Police Department, testified at Manhattan criminal court on Thursday.  

Sergeant Burns was the second witness prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office called on Thursday in their case against Mr. Mangione, whom they have charged with fatally shooting Thompson, a father of two and the CEO of one of the largest health insurance companies in the country, on a midtown Manhattan street on December 4, 2024. 

Mr. Mangione, who was sitting in the courtroom, dressed in a gray suit and a blue button down shirt, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorneys argue that his rights were violated when he was arrested five days after the shooting, because his backpack was searched without a warrant and he was questioned for about 20 minutes without having been read his Miranda rights.       

Five days after Thompson’s killing, a manager at a McDonald’s, almost 300 miles west of New York city in the small town of Altoona, Pennsylvania, called 911 because a customer was concerned that a man eating his breakfast in the fast food restaurant resembled the suspected shooter. Moments later, two patrolmen arrived and began questioning Mr. Mangione, who provided a New Jersey driver’s license that turned out to be fake. By the time he was detained, handcuffed, and frisked, a total of 13 Altoona police officers were present at the scene.  

Body-worn camera footage shows Corporal Garrett Trent saying to other officers, after they had begun searching Mr. Mangione’s backpack, where they found a loaded handgun magazine, “At this point we probably need a search warrant.” 

But Sergeant Burns disagreed. He told an assistant district attorney, Joel Seideman, “I said, ‘It doesn’t matter, he (Mr. Mangione) is under arrest for a crime he’s committed here in Pennsylvania, so it’s search incident to arrest.'” Sgt. Burns was referring to the forgery charge based on the use of a fake ID.

However, when asked by defense attorney Jacob Kaplan, if all the items seized from Mr. Mangione’s backpack, which Sergeant Burns personally photographed at the stationhouse later, including a red notebook, more than $7000 in cash, several electronic devices, a faraday bag and hygiene items, were directly related to Mr. Mangione’s forgery charge, the sergeant admitted they were not.

Sergeant Burns also conceded that he was not always near the backpack, while it was being searched at the precinct, testifying,  “I may not have been there for the entirety of the time.”  

Another officer, Patrolwoman Christy Wasser, who testified on Monday, discovered a 3-D printed handgun in the backpack, which New York investigators say matches the shell casings of the bullets found at the crime scene. The defense have questioned why Patrolwoman Wasser found the gun at the stationhouse and not at the McDonald’s where she also had begun her search of the backpack.                 

Lieutenant William Hanelly, the highest ranking of all the officers, testified on Thursday morning that officer Wasser “had every right to do so.” 

“It’s a warrant exception in Pennsylvania,” Lieutenant Hanelly told the court. “Police can search the person and their items.” After conferring with an assistant district attorney on the phone about the forgery charges, Lieutenant Hanelly instructed officers to detain Mr. Mangione. He said the following step was to search his belongings.

The lieutenant also confirmed making a bet about a hoagie with patrolman Officer Joseph Detwiler, who responded to the 911 call at the McDonald’s. 

As the Sun reported, Officer Detwiler testified last Tuesday that he drove to the McDonald’s because someone had reported, “there is a male in the store that looks like the New York City shooter.” 

That’s when Lieutenant Hannelly texted him that he would get the officer a “hoagie“ sandwich if he did in fact catch “the New York City shooter.” 

“A significant percentage of our calls come from people with mental illness. I thought it highly unlikely the Manhattan shooter would be in Altoona. I texted Patrolman Detwiler, I would get him a sub,” Lieutenant Hanelly testified on Thursday. 

But once the lieutenant heard that the suspicious man had provided false identification, he drove to the McDonald’s. From the car, he testified, he called 911 to inform the New York Police Department, “so we could get the ball rolling.” 

The 911 call was played in open court on Thursday and Lieutenant Hanelly can be heard telling the operator, “We’re acting off a tip from a local business here… We believe we have the UHC shooter,” he said, referring to the initials of UnitedHealthcare. 

“The who?” A female operator could be heard replying. 

Lieutenant Hanelly clarified, “The shooter from the Manhattan shooting.” He explained, “We’re about five hours from the city of New York… We have enough to take him into custody.” 

He then told the operator that Mr. Mangione “matches the photos that were put out to the public.”  

The hearings will resume on Friday. So far twelve witnesses have testified. Prosecutors plan on calling more than twenty, and the defense has said it would call three. The hearings could last into next week.