Luigi Mangione latest: Top New York attorney tapped by defense as new details emerge on how suspect fled to Pennsylvania

A TV anchor managed to interview men at the alleged shooter’s jail as they watched her program from their cells.

Mangione is at a state correctional facility in Huntingdon. The prisoners there complained about their living conditions and meals by screaming yes or no to the anchor’s questions.

Watch the interaction here:

December 4: The suspect set off from an Upper West Side hostel before dawn. He was seen on surveillance video walking back and forth at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, near the Hilton Hotel where the UnitedHealthcare Group was holding its conference. After opening fire, the suspect fled by bike through Central Park before getting into a cab and was later spotted at a bus station. A manhunt ensued.

December 5: Investigators revealed a cryptic message carved onto the shell casings: “delay,” “deny” and “depose.” NYPD also released images of the suspect.

December 6: Police announce they believe the suspect has left New York City, expanding the desperate search. A backpack, thought to belong to the suspect, was found in Central Park and sent in for forensic testing. The now-viral “flirtatious” photo of the suspect speaking to a hostel worker was released.

December 7: NYPD releases another photo of the suspect, this time in the back of a taxi. The FBI also joined the hunt for the suspect, offering a $50,000 reward for information.

December 8: Although no leads on the suspect’s whereabouts were made public, investigators revealed the contents of the backpack included Monopoly money and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.

December 9: A private service for Brian Thompson was held. Also that day, a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania tipped recognized Mangione from the photos circulated by police. He was arrested in Pennsylvania on gun charges and hours later faced a murder charge in New York.

The fallout from the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brain Thompson has led to a tumble in stock values for major insurance companies.

Thompson was shot and killed by a masked gunman, suspected to be 26-year-old Luigi Mangione a week ago in what is believed to be a targeted attack apparently based in part on grievances with the U.S. health insurance system.

The shocking nature of the shooting has shined a glaring spotlight on the worst parts of health insurance companies’ policies leading to a small anti-health insurance company movement online.

Read the full story.

Police previously thought that the suspect boarded a bus to Pennsylvania, where he was eventually caught on Monday. Cops said they believed the shooter had stopped off at different locations around the state.

But according to the New York Post, that’s no longer the case.

Investigators said they thought the suspect had taken a bus because he was seen on surveillance video at the George Washington Bridge bus station. Now, they think he took the subway from the bus station to Penn Station and bought a train ticket to Pennsylvania before he was caught, CBS News and ABC News reported, citing police sources. 

Kathleen Mangione was contacted by federal investigators the night before her son was arrested and told them he looked like the person in the photos released by the New York City Police Department, according to the NY Post.

The FBI had received a tip from San Francisco police after an official in California said he recognized the man in the pictures and tipped off federal authorities. Members of the Joint Violent Crimes Task Force then spoke to Mangione’s mother about her son, asking her about a missing person’s report her family had filed in November.

According to The Post, the man’s mother wasn’t completely confident that was actually her son in the images.

A poll released on Friday reveals that young Americans are more likely to favor the suspected killer over his alleged victim.

The Center for Strategic Politics reported that out of 455 adults surveyed on December 11, 31 percent of adults under 45 were nearly four times as likely to view Mangione favorably. That’s compared to only 16 percent who saw Brian Thompson favorably.

Luigi Mangione has retained a top New York attorney for his legal defense in connection with the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The Independent understands that Karen Friedman Agnifilo has been officially retained to represent Mangione, 26, in New York, after the executive, 50, was gunned down outside the New York Hilton in Midtown Manhattan on 4 December.

Here, The Independent takes a look at what we know about Ms Agnifilo:

A group of partygoers in Boston reportedly cheered when a DJ put a photo of Luigi Mangione on a big screen.

See the footage below.