The gunman arrived in New York City on Nov. 24 and shot Thompson 10 days later outside his company’s annual investor conference at a hotel just blocks from Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center.
Police arrested a “strong person of interest” Monday in the Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO after a quick-thinking McDondald’s employee in Pennsylvania alerted authorities to a customer who was found with a weapon and writings linking him to the ambush.
The 26-year-old man had a gun believed to be the one used in the killing and writings suggesting his anger with corporate America, police officials said.
He was taken into custody after police got a tip that he was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.
Authorities recovered a “fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID our suspect used to check into his New York City hostel before the shooting,” Tisch said, and “a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset.”
NYPD Chief of Detective Joseph Kenny said the document indicated “ill will towards corporate America” rather than specific threats.
Police identified the suspect as Luigi Mangione. Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco, and his last known address is in Honolulu, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a news briefing.
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was carrying a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency.
Mangione disputed the amount.
He was also found with a box of masks, the prosecutor said.
After Mangione provided his real name and birth date, he was taken into custody on charges of forgery and false identification to law enforcement, court documents say.
In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed pistol and a 3D-printed black silencer, the papers say.
The pistol had a metal slide and plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel. It had one loaded Glock magazine with six 9 mm full metal jacket rounds and one loose 9 mm hollow-point round.
