Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism for the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione, 26, has already been charged with murder for the Dec. 4 killing, but the indictment could help advance procedural steps toward the suspect’s extradition.
Under New York law, such a charge can be filed when an alleged crime “is intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policies of a government unit through intimidation or coercion, and to affect the conduct of a unity of government through murder.” murder or kidnapping.’
Thompson, 50, was shot and killed while walking to a Manhattan hotel where Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, was holding an investor conference.
“This was a terrifying, well-planned and directed murder that was intended to cause shock, attention and intimidation,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday.
“It occurred in one of the busiest areas of our city and threatened the safety of local residents and tourists, commuters and business people just starting their day.”
Mangione has two court hearings scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania, including an extradition hearing, Bragg said.
Hours after his arrest in Pennsylvania last week, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed documents charging him with murder and other crimes. The accusation is based on that paperwork.
Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism for the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Investigators’ working theory is that Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent Maryland family, was driven by anger at the American health care system.
A police bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week said that when he was arrested, he was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasites” and complained about corporate greed.
On Wednesday, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police had compared a gun found in Mangione to shell casings recovered at the scene and his fingerprints to a water bottle and an energy bar wrapper. found nearby.
Other evidence includes handwritten documents found in his possession that present his alleged crime as a legitimate response to what he considered corporate greed, some media outlets have reported.
Mangione lashed out at himself Tuesday as he was led into court, shouting in part: ‘…completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people!’
The former Ivy League student had been arrested with a 3D-printed gun and a black silencer, as well as a manifesto condemning the American healthcare system.
Mangione also had a spiral notebook in which he wrote a “to-do list” before the grizzly bear shooting. cnn reported.
In it, he allegedly toyed with the idea of using a bomb to kill Thompson, but decided against it because “it could kill innocents” and determined that a shooting would be more targeted.
He also reportedly mused that there couldn’t be anything better than “killing the CEO at his own bean-counting conference,” as Thompson was about to reveal the financial gains the company made this year.