Luigi Nicholas Mangione, suspect in fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO, charged with murder, officials say

The capture of the suspected gunman in the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson played out Monday morning at a McDonald's in a central Pennsylvania town when an alert customer thought a man who was eating at the fast food chain resembled surveillance photographs of the shooter that the NYPD had released to the public, officials said.

Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, a Maryland native who last lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, was taken into custody Monday by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, police said, ending the extensive six-day search for the suspected shooter that initially stumped investigators and riveted people across the country.

Late Monday, prosecutors in Manhattan charged Mangione with murder in connection with Thompson's killing in midtown Manhattan. He also faces weapons and forgery charges, according to court records.

Mangione appeared earlier Monday evening in a Pennsylvania court, where he was arraigned on separate forgery and weapons charges. He was ordered held without bail, officials in Pennsylvania said Monday evening.

The Associated Press reported that a prosecutor said Mangione had $10,000 cash on him at the time of his arrest — $2,000 of it in foreign currency.

Mangione also had a box of masks with him, the prosecutor said, according to The Associated Press.

Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said a customer at the McDonald's first noticed Mangione — and his perceived resemblance to the man wanted by the NYPD — and alerted a McDonald's employee, who then called 911.

Rookie Police Officer Tyler Frye was one of two officers who responded to the McDonald's. He said they "recognized him immediately."

"We didn't even think twice about it," said Frye. "We knew it was our guy."

Frye described Mangione as "pretty cooperative," adding Mangione pulled down his mask when police asked him to. But Mangione started shaking when police asked if he had been in New York recently, police said.

He produced a fake ID when asked for identification and was arrested on the forgery charge. It wasn't until he was searched that police found the firearm.

An NYPD official said New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch had FaceTimed with Frye to thank him for his work.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Frye "acted swiftly, he acted with smarts and he acted with calm."

Shapiro said Mangione has traveled between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, "making stops in between." Police would not provide specifics.

Shapiro also praised the McDonald's employee while criticizing some corners of social media that have praised the suspect due to dissatisfaction with the health insurance indicated.

"In America, we don't kill people in cold blood to solve disputes or policy differences ... this killer is being hailed a hero. He is no hero. The real hero is the worker at McDonald's who called police," he said.

Bivens said that while Mangione was on the lam, he was "very careful with trying to stay low profile, avoid cameras."

It was not immediately known if Mangione had hired an attorney.

"We have a strong person of interest in the shooting that shook our city last week," Adams said at a news conference announcing Mangione's arrest Monday but before the filing of murder charges. "He matches the description of the identification we've been looking for. He's also in possession of several items that we believe will connect him to this incident. How did we do it? Good, old-fashioned police work."

At the time of his arrest, Mangione, an Ivy League graduate who most recently worked as a data engineer for an auto sales website, was carrying a three-page "manifesto" that "speaks to both his motivation and mindset," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.

Mangione also had an untraceable ghost gun, which had the capability to fire a 9-mm round, and a gun silencer, police said.

Tisch said the finds are "both consistent with the weapon used in the murder." Ballistics tests will be done to determine if it's a match. Police believe the firearm could have been made by a 3D printer.

"We don't think that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America," Kenny said.

Mangione also had several fake identification cards on him at the time of his arrest, including a New Jersey ID that matched an ID that was used to secure a stay at the Upper West Side hostel where police believe the suspect stayed in the days before the shooting, Tisch said. He also had a U.S. passport.

Mangione had both clothing and a mask that appeared to match what the suspected gunman was seen wearing in surveillance videos released by the NYPD, Tisch said.

Mangione, who according to his LinkedIn page graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer and information sciences, was eating in an Altoona McDonald's on Monday morning and "was recognized by an employee who called police," Tisch said. He was questioned by police and was "acting suspiciously," Tisch said, without elaborating.

Altoona Police Cpl. August Stickel said in a brief statement that police responded at 9:14 a.m. to a McDonald’s in town after receiving a call reporting that a male inside the fast food restaurant matched the description of the murder suspect wanted by the NYPD.

Police believe the suspect worked alone, Kenny said.

The arrest of Mangione came six days after the early-morning shooting of Thompson, a married father of two from Maple Grove, Minnesota, outside of the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue.

Thompson became chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in April 2021, according to the company. Previously, he was CEO of its government programs.

Surveillance video showed the targeted killing of Thompson, who was shot from behind in the back and calf, as he walked on a sidewalk outside the Hilton at about 6:44 a.m. last Wednesday. But the alleged shooter, who was believed to have left the scene on an electric bike, was wearing a mask and hood — making an immediate identification nearly impossible.

But NYPD detectives were able to piece together his whereabouts before and after the shooting using the extensive network of surveillance cameras — both operated by the police and by property owners and businesses — on the streets of Manhattan.

According to a police official, the suspected shooter had arrived to New York on Nov. 24 at the Port Authority bus terminal after 10 p.m. on a bus from Atlanta. The bus made several stops, so it wasn't clear when he got on.

He checked into the hostel on Amsterdam Avenue and stayed for five days. He checked out on Nov. 29, but checked back in the next day.

He had two roommates at the hostel and kept his mask on day and night, except for a brief interaction with a front desk employee at the hostel, which apparently led to his arrest. It was that photo, with the suspect's mask around his neck — his full face exposed while he smiled — that gave investigators, and the public at-large, the best look at his face.

Police have said they believe he booked the room using a fake ID and paid in cash.

On the morning of the shooting, the suspected gunman left the hostel at 5:30 a.m. and went into a nearby Starbucks, police have said.

After shooting Thompson, who was pronounced dead at a hospital about a half hour after being wounded, the gunman fled on what police believe was an electric bicycle and entered Central Park at 60th Street and Center Drive at 6:48 a.m., police have said.

Surveillance video showed him at Central Park West at 6:56 a.m. and two minutes later at West 85th Street and Columbus Avenue.

Four minutes later, he had abandoned the bike and was spotted walking north on West 86th Street. The suspect then got into a cab and was next spotted via surveillance video near the Port Authority bus station near the George Washington Bridge at 7:30 a.m. From there, the trail apparently went cold.

Kenny said Monday morning that police did not have a name for the suspect before Mangione's arrest. 

At the scene, police found several pieces of evidence, including an apparent message on the three shell casings. Investigators found the words "delay," "deny" and "depose" on the shell casings, a law enforcement source has told Newsday. The words echo a 2010 book titled "Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It" by Jay M. Feinman.

A Peak Design backpack believed to have belonged to the alleged shooter was found Friday night in Central Park, police said. It contained a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.

Tisch said scores of detectives worked the case — some without taking time off — since the killing, combing through "thousands of hours of video" following up on tips and deploying drones, canine units and scuba divers to search areas of Central Park.

"This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what led to this result today," Tisch said.