‘I Shot Mr. Thompson’: Mangione Pleads Guilty in Killing of UnitedHealthcare Executive

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday in a Manhattan courtroom to federal stalking charges that resulted in the death of UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson.Mangione, unshaven, was led into the courtroom at 11:11 a.m. wearing a tan prison jumpsuit. He stopped and looked at the packed courtroom. Seated in the front row were Thompson’s mother, Pat Thompson, other family members and former colleagues of Thompson.“Mr. Mangione is prepared to plea at this time,” Mangione’s lead defense lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told the judge.United States district judge Margaret Garnett asked Mangione a series of questions before accepting his guilty plea.“Mr. Mangione, are you willing to give up the right to a trial?” Judge Garnett asked Mangione.“Yes,” Mangione replied, looking straight at the judge.Judge Garnett then asked Mangione to explain what he did.“On the morning of December 4, I shot Mr. Thompson,” Mangione said. “I knew what I was doing was illegal,” he added, sounding nervous as he read from his prepared statement.Mangione went on to say that he had learned about the conference and researched it online. He said he emailed company leadership posing as a large investor and heard back in about an hour.Mangione then said he traveled to Manhattan with a gun he created on a 3D printer and shot Thompson. Thompson’s mother stared at Mangione as he read his statement. Mangione did not apologize for the killing..After accepting Mangione’s plea, Judge Garnett set a December 18 sentencing date. The maximum sentence he faces is life imprisonment.The shooting of Thompson outside of a Hilton hotel at Midtown Manhattan in the early morning hours of December 4, 2024, shocked the nation. The 50-year old father of two who headed up the largest health insurance company in the country, was walking to an investor conference at the New York Hilton when a figure wearing a hooded sweatshirt approached him from behind, drew what detectives say was a homemade ghost gun equipped with a homemade ghost suppressor, and shot Thompson once in the leg and once in the back from point blank range. Emergency responders pronounced Thompson dead at the hospital about half an hour later. The shooter fled immediately. After a five-day manhunt, during which surveillance pictures of the suspect were circulated on national media and flooded the internet, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s at Altoona, Pennsylvania, where an employee called the police after a customer had recognized the young man, who had removed his face mask to eat.The 28-year-old matched the surveillance photos of the alleged killer that had been circulated on national media and flooded the internet. A customer at McDonald’s had recognized Mangione, when he removed his face mask to eat. The customer alerted an employee, who then called the police. When asked to identify himself, Mangione showed officers the same fake New Jersey drivers license, which he had used to check into a hostel in Manhattan’s Bloomingdale neighborhood where he stayed before the killing. Arresting officers also found a 9-millimeter 3D-printed handgun, two ammunition magazines, multiple live cartridges, a homemade suppressor, in his backpack, as well as a red notebook with handwritten notes that expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry. For example, one of the notes states: “So say, you want to rebel against the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel. Do you bomb the HQ? No. Boms [sic] = terrorism.” The writings then suggest that instead of bombing the headquarters, one should “wack [sic] the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted and it doesn’t risk innocents.” Mangione was extradited to New York from Pennsylvania under enormous security and brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail, in Brooklyn, where he has been held without bail, reportedly working as a jail orderly, cleaning showers and restrooms.Mangione also faces charges in a New York state murder case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, including second-degree murder and weapon offenses. His lawyers submitted an application to have the state charges dropped after the guilty plea citing double jeopardy grounds.New York State has strong laws to protect a defendant from being tried and punished for the same crime twice. Under New York’s successive prosecution statute, “A person cannot be separately prosecuted for multiple offenses that arise out of the exact same act or criminal transaction.” Mangione’s second-degree murder charge arises from the same act: the fatal shooting of Thompson. But state prosecutors could push back by arguing that the murder case qualifies for an exception because the statutory provisions target very different harms: stalking and murder. Ultimately, the decision of whether to proceed with the state trial would rest with the New York state judge who presides over the case, Gregory Carro.

‘I Shot Mr. Thompson’: Mangione Pleads Guilty in Killing of UnitedHealthcare Executive

‘I Shot Mr. Thompson’: Mangione Pleads Guilty in Killing of UnitedHealthcare Executive

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