Luigi Mangione latest: Top New York attorney tapped by CEO murder suspect as ‘defense fund’ donations mount

The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen shooting on a busy Manhattan street has been charged with murder in the second degree.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested with a 3D-printed gun in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning following a six-day manhunt for the hooded shooter who gunned down the healthcare executive on a Manhattan street.

The gun matches three shell casings found at the crime scene and marked with “deny,” “defend” and “depose”, police officials said this week.

My colleague crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin reports:

The boss of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company has paid tribute to the “brilliant, kind man” Brian Thompson, days after he was gunned down outside his New York hotel.

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday: “As Brian Thompson’s family, friends and colleagues mourn his killing, we are bearing a grief and sadness we will carry for the rest of our lives. Grief for the family he leaves behind. And grief for a brilliant, kind man who was working to make health care better for everyone.”

The chief of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company has acknowledged the public’s “frustrations” with the US’s health care system, which he admitted is flawed.

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday: “We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it.”

His remarks come days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in an attack that was allegedly fuelled by hatred of the system.

Paying tribute to Mr Thompson as a “brilliant, kind man”, Mr Witty also pledged his company would help to fix the issues. “We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” he said.

The suspect in the shooting is being held in his own cell under maximum security at Huntingdon Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.

Luigi Mangione is not under suicide watch or in solitary confinement, according to CBS News. However, he does not get to interact with other inmates.

Mangione has not been violent while in jail, according to officials.

He is being held in a Pennsylvania jail pending his extradition to New York to face murder charges in connection to the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

NYPD officials said Luigi Mangione’s family did not send in any tips. That comes as their relative’s pictures were splashed all over news channels in the hours after the shooting.

Police said they received more than 200 tips as the manhunt for Mangione unfolded, but none came from family with the same name, according to USA Today.

It wasn’t until the suspect was spotted in Pennsylvania that police swooped in to make an arrest in the case, nearly a week after the killing.

UnitedHealth Group, the parent company to UntiedHealthcare, said that Luigi Mangione was not a client of the health insurance company.

There is no record that the 26-year-old shooting suspect was ever insured by the company, UnitedHealth Group told NBC News.

Police also confirmed that there is “no indication” that Mangione was registered with UnitedHealthcare, whose CEO was murdered on December 4 in Midtown Manhattan.

“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth-largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest health care organization in America,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York.

More than $100,000 has been raised to pay for Luigi Mangione’s legal bills as he faces charges in both Pennsylvania and New York.

The December 4th Legal Committee launched the public appeal on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo, which garnered the vast sum after the 26-year-old was changed in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday. The fundraiser has a goal of $200,000.

“We are dedicated to ensuring that he gets a fair trial with competent legal counsel,” said Carol Sherman, an organizer with the December 4th Legal Committee.

The group says that proceeds will go to “other political prisoners in the US” if Mangione’s charges are dropped, or he rejects the funds.

The CEO of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company to UnitedHealthcare, admitted that the US health system “doesn’t work as well as it should”.

Writing in a New York Times op-ed on Friday morning, Andrew Witty lamented the loss of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of United Healthcare, and addressed the US’s “patchwork” healthcare system.

The health insurance executive also wrote that he understood people’s frustrations with the health care system.

“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” he wrote. “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”

He continued: “Our mission is to help make it work better. We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have – health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others – to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs.

“Clearly, we are not there yet. We understand and share the desire to build a health care system that works better for everyone. That is the purpose of our organization.”

Luigi Mangione’s family are said to have hired a private investigator to search for the Brian Thompson’s suspected murderer after he cut communication with friends and family late last year, a friend said.

A friend who allegedly studied alongside Mangione at The Gilman School claimed that he stopped contact with his family at the end of 2023.

“I did know he was having some issues,” a schoolfriend told the Daily Mail. “He wasn’t talking with his family, and nobody could find him.

“They hired a private investigator, they were so worried.”

The friend claimed they’d been told that Mangione had struggled with pain medication due to an injury stemming from an accident.

“There was some sort of accident. I knew he was hurt some time ago and that led to the painkiller thing, and then the whole family issue,” he said. “I can’t confirm what the issue specifically was, but I know that he was estranged.”

The Mail claims that another schoolmate said had heard of Mangione’s alleged use of pain medication due to a chronic spinal injury.