Luigi Mangione latest: Ghost gun found on suspect matches casings found at United CEO’s murder, cops say

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez struck a measured tone on Wednesday when asked about the recent shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, warning of the “chaos” of vigilante-style attacks but saying the shooting reflected widespread disatisfaction over the state of U.S. healthcare.

“Of course, we don’t want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents,” she told Business Insider on Wednesday. “And we also don’t want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis, and people are led to just some of the worst, not just health events, but the worst financial events of their and their family’s lives.”

The New York Democrat added that she personally didn’t have consistent healthcare until she was elected to Congress, and that shooting is a “wake up call” for people’s widespread suffering in the U.S. health system.

A person walking their dog in New York City’s Central Park on Tuesday found a bag of bullets in the bushes, but the ammo does not appear linked to the recent UnitedHealthcare shooting, according to Fox 5 New York, citing unnamed sources.

The bag initially piqued their interest because alleged gunman Luigi Mangione fled through police after the shooting last week, according to police.

UnitedHealth executives are reportedly rallying the company after the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson has revealed widespread animosity towards the healthcare industry.

“Never forget: What you do matters. It really, really matters,” CEO Andrew Witty reportedly told staff, according to a leaked memo obtained by journalist Ken Klippenstein. “There is no higher calling than helping people. Nothing more vital to the human condition than health care. And while these days have been dark, our patients, members, customers are sending us light — thousands of phone calls, texts, comments and emails offering condolences, gratitude and encouragement are pouring in.”

Mainstream crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has repeatedly shut down fundraisers seeking to send money for Luigi Mangione’s legal defense, but that hasn’t stopped supporters of the alleged killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO to pool funds elsewhere.

A group calling itself the December 4th Legal Committee has raised over $35,000 on Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo, a platform that’s previously been used to raise money for January 6 rioters, Kyle Rittenhouse, and Daniel Penny, who was recently acquitted in the 2023 Manhattan choking death of Jordan Neely.

“We are not here to celebrate violence, but we do believe in the constitutional right of fair legal representation,” the group wrote of its efforts on the fundraiser page.

A professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League institution UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect Luigi Mangione attended, is retracting her social media posts that appeared to praise him.

Julia Alekseyeva, an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema and Media Studies, posted a TikTok video on Monday night swaying her left index finger back and forth to the tune of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the musical Les Misérables.

She wrote: “Have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.” The post appeared to refer to Mangione’s prior attendance at the university, where he obtained undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. He also worked as a teaching assistant at the university after graduation.

Michelle Del Rey has the full story.

Investigators announced finding their first forensic ties between Luigi Mangione and the Midtown murder scene.

Shell casings — marked with the words “deny,” “defend,” “depose” — that were found at the crime scene matched the gun that was seized during the suspect’s arrest Monday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday.

Lab results also showed that Mangione’s fingerprints matched the prints on a watter bottle and a Kind bar wrapper near the scene, she said.

Luigi Mangione struggled with police and shouted about an “insult to the American people” as officers forcibly led him into a Pennsylvania courtroom for an extradition hearing Tuesday afternoon.

The 26-year-old, who has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to last week’s killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was denied bail at the hearing and is fighting extradition back to New York.

He appeared at Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg in the afternoon in handcuffs and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.

“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!” Mangione shouted after stepping out of a police car.

He was flanked by several officers who pushed him towards the door.

Rhian Lubin has the full story.

Joe Rogan chalked up the country’s mixed reactions to the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO to the “dirty business” of health insurance.

Rogan and his guests, filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, discussed the December 4 death of Brian Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan street on Tuesday’s episode of the mega-popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

The podcaster and his guests predicted there wouldn’t be much sympathy for the 50-year-old insurance executive due to the state of health insurance in the U.S.

“I don’t think anybody is going to be crying too hard over” Thompson’s death, Avary said.

“Maybe his family, but that’s about it,” Rogan replied. “It’s a dirty, dirty business. The business of insurance is f***ing gross. It’s gross, especially healthcare insurance.”

Read the full story.

Police recovered a notebook — along with the ghost gun, silencer, and fake ID cards — when they apprehended the 26-year-old Monday.

The spiral notebook contained a to-do list outlining tasks to be completed to carry out the killing, as well as notes that justified those plans, CNN previously reported.

One passage, obtained by the New York Times, read: “What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.”

Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Thompson on his way to speak at the company’s annual investor conference.

Authorities also recovered a 262-word, three-page handwritten manifesto, which references the notebook, according to the Times.

After analyzing the manifesto, investigators believed Thompson’s death to be a “symbolic takedown,” an internal report obtained by the outlet stated. The suspect “likely views himself as a hero of sorts who has finally decided to act upon such injustices.”

The report also noted concern that others might see him as a “martyr and an example to follow.”