Luigi Mangione

Luigi Nicholas Mangione is an American man accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
Thompson was shot and killed in New York City on December 4, 2024. Following a nationwide manhunt, Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the shooting. He was indicted on eleven state charges and four federal charges, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, criminal possession of a weapon, and stalking. Federal prosecutors initially sought the death penalty in Mangione's federal case. On September 16, 2025, a New York state judge dismissed Mangione's terror-related murder charges; he still faces a charge of second-degree murder. On January 30, 2026, a federal judge dismissed the federal murder charge and a related firearm charge that carried the possibility of the death penalty.
Since his arrest, Mangione has been celebrated as a folk hero. Opinion polls have found that American adult respondents are more likely to view Mangione negatively, while around 1 in 4 respondents sympathize with him, with younger and more liberal respondents being more likely to view him favorably. The support Mangione has generated has been connected to negative opinions of the U.S. health insurance industry and claim denial practices, with the majority of Americans believing that denials of health care coverage and profits made by health insurance companies contributed to the UnitedHealthcare CEO's death.

Early life, education, and career

Luigi Nicholas Mangione was born in Towson, Maryland, on May 6, 1998, to Kathleen and Louis Mangione, a Baltimore-area couple of Italian descent. He has two older sisters. His paternal grandfather, Nicholas Mangione, was a successful Baltimore businessman, with 10 children and 37 grandchildren; one of his grandchildren being Nino Mangione, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Mangione attended Gilman School, an all-boys private secondary school in Baltimore, where he participated in sports such as soccer, track, cross country, and wrestling. He developed an interest in video games and video game development, teaching himself how to code, and co-founding a iOS game development company, AppRoar Studios. Mangione graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 2016. His valedictorian speech focused on praising his classmates' achievements, expressing gratitude to teachers and faculty, and thanking parents in attendance for sending him and his classmates to Gilman School, which was "far from a small financial investment." He did not speak about himself.
Mangione attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated cum laude in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in computer engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering in computer and information science. His undergraduate studies included a minor in mathematics, and his graduate curriculum concentrated on artificial intelligence. In 2016, Mangione founded UPGRADE, the university's first game development club, which aimed to connect artists, programmers, and creatives passionate about video games. In a 2018 interview, Mangione said "We don’t turn people away for not having experience. Passion is what we’re looking for.” The club grew to include about 60 members and remained active as of January 2026.
While an undergraduate student, Mangione completed a robotics research internship at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, and was a user interface programming intern with Firaxis Games between May 2016 and August 2017, where he worked on the video game Civilization VI. During the summer of 2019, he served as a counselor for Stanford University's artificial intelligence pre-collegiate studies program in California.
In November 2020, Mangione began working remotely as a data engineer for TrueCar. He left his job at the end of February 2023, sharing with a former classmate that "Data engineering paid super well but was mind-numbingly boring" and that he wanted to "spend more time reading and doing yoga".

Alleged role in the killing of Brian Thompson

Arrest

Brian Thompson, CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024. The shooting occurred early in the morning outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown hotel and was captured on video. Thompson was shot in the leg and the back. Thompson was in the city to attend an annual investors' meeting for UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth Group. The suspect, initially described as a white man wearing a mask, fled the scene. The gunman was masked and had come to New York via a bus from Atlanta. The words "delay", "deny", and "depose" were written on the spent cases and an ejected cartridge. The three words are similar to "Delay, Deny, Defend", a well-known phrase in the insurance industry alluding to insurance companies' efforts to avoid paying claims. The suspect was seen at a bus terminal after the killing. In a Central Park wooded area, New York police discovered a backpack—which supposedly the gunman had disposed of—that contained Monopoly money and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.
After a five-day nationwide manhunt, local police arrested Mangione at a McDonald's restaurant on East Plank Road in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024. The police responded to a call an employee made after a customer noticed similarities between Mangione's appearance and images of Thompson's alleged killer released by the New York City Police Department. Altoona is about west of New York City. The police reported that Mangione was "visibly nervous" when asked if he had recently visited New York City, adding that “He didn’t really answer it directly. So that statement alone really said a lot. The suspect didn’t have to say a lot after that question.” Almost a year later, during a testimony when asked how he knew that Mangione was nervous, the arresting police officer said “I saw his fingers shaking a little bit.”
Eventually, at approximately 10 a.m. the police arrested Mangione for "forgery" and "false identification to law enforcement". He was searched, handcuffed and transported back to Altoona Police Department's station. Mangione's backpack was also searched. After officers found a gun magazine inside the backpack, they decided to take everything back to the police station. Rolling Stone reported that "On the body-worn camera footage, Fox is shown placing a large McDonald’s bag full of evidence, including Mangione’s laptop, into the trunk of his SUV. Wasser takes the backpack with her." Both officers turned off their body-worn cameras when leaving the McDonald’s, there is no video footage for 11 minutes. Wasser testified that she and Fox pulled over on the way to the police station so he could give her the McDonald's bag.
At the police station, upon searching Mangione's backpack again, police said they found a 3D-printed gun and a 3D-printed suppressor. Police stated that they also found a fake driver's license from New Jersey bearing the name "Mark Rosario". Reportedly, a man who checked into a Manhattan hostel in late November used an ID with the same name. Police later reported that shell casings found at the crime scene matched the gun found on Mangione. The police also said that when they arrested him, they found a 262-word handwritten document partly about the American healthcare system. Mangione had no prior criminal record.

Handwritten document

Upon Mangione's arrest, police alleged they found in his possession a 262-word handwritten document, which many media outlets characterized as a "manifesto". The handwritten document spoke to Mangione's "motivation and mindset", according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Journalist Ken Klippenstein published a transcription of the document police said was found on him. Police confirmed that the transcription was authentic.
The complaint filed by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York calls the letter "The Feds Letter" because it is addressed "To the Feds". In the complaint, the U.S. Attorney's office wrote that "The Feds Letter" also stated: "P.S. you can check serial numbers to verify this is all self-funded. My own ATM withdrawals.", which is not shown in the document released by Klippenstein. The legality of the search of Mangione's backpack has been contested, and a motion to suppress the resulting evidence, including this document, has been made.

State and federal charges

After arresting Mangione at McDonald's for forgery and falsely identifying himself to the authorities, a police criminal complaint filed at 5:13 p.m. the same day added charges of carrying a gun without a license, "tampering with records or identification", and possessing "instruments of crime". He was arraigned at the Blair County Courthouse at 6:30 p.m. and was denied bail.

Count	Charge	P.A. Penal Law Citation
1	Forgery
2	Firearms not to be carried without a license
3	Tampering with records or identification
4	Possessing instruments of crime
5	False identification to law enforcement authorities

Later that day, Mangione was charged in Manhattan with second-degree murder, three counts of illegal weapons possession, and forgery. He was temporarily transferred to the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon, a close-security state correctional facility in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
The next day, December 10, 2024, as he was led into the courthouse for another hearing, Mangione shouted at the press gathered there "Your coverage of this event is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience."
On December 17, 2024, the Manhattan district attorney's office indicted Mangione on 11 New York state charges.

Count	Charge	N.Y. Penal Law Citation	Remarks
			Dismissed September 16, 2025.
			Dismissed September 16, 2025.
3	Murder in the second degree	s. 125.25	Murder as such – intentional killing
4	Criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree	s. 265.03	Possession of a loaded firearm with intent to use the same unlawfully against another
5	Criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree		Unlicensed carrying of a loaded firearm outside of defendant's abode or business.
6	Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree	s. 265.02	Possession of an "assault weapon" under the gun laws in New York
7	Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree	s. 265.02	Firearm silencer
8	Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree	s. 265.02	Glock magazine
9	Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree	s. 265.02	Magpul magazine
10	Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree	s. 265.01	3D-printed gun
11	Criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree	s. 170.25	Fake ID

Mangione was extradited to New York City on December 19, 2024, and charged with four federal crimes. On December 23, he was arraigned in the New York Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to his state charges. On April 17, 2025, he was formally indicted on his federal charges.

Count	Charge	18 U.S.C. Citation	Remarks
1	Stalking	ss. 2261A and 22661	Interstate via traveling from Georgia to New York
2	Stalking	ss. 2261A and 22661	Interstate via use of a cellphone and the Internet
			Dismissed January 30, 2026.
			Dismissed January 30, 2026.

Possible remedies for murder through the use of a firearm—the third federal charge—include the death penalty. During his second presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that requires the death penalty to be used wherever possible. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on April 1, 2025, that prosecutors would seek the death penalty in Mangione's federal case. However, on January 30, 2026, a federal judge dismissed the capital-eligible federal counts and ruled that prosecutors may not seek the death penalty. The state charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Mangione is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn under Federal Register Number 52503-511. He will remain at MDC Brooklyn until his trial.