Rookie Pennsylvania Police Officer Plays Big Role in Arrest of Suspect in New York City Killing of Healthcare CEO

NEW YORK — A person of interest identified as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday in connection with the Midtown Manhattan murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel following a five-day manhunt.

The elusive shooter, who was held without bail at a Pennsylvania court appearance, was the subject of an intense search since the Wednesday shooting, as NYPD investigators scoured camera footage and used drones, dogs, scuba divers and the NYPD’s high-tech “domain awareness system” to track his moments via bicycle, cab and bus.

The big break in the case came when he pulled down his mask to flirt with an Upper West Side hostel worker, exposing his face to a camera — and on Monday, a McDonald’s worker more than 200 miles away from the scene recognized him and called in the tip.

A pair of officers from the Altoona Police Department who responded to the fast-food restaurant found Mangione sitting at a table toward the back, looking at a silver laptop, according to court documents. He was wearing a blue surgical mask.

At a news conference, Altoona Officer Tyler Frye, who has only six months on the job, said he and his partner “didn’t even think twice” once Mangione complied with an order to pull down his mask.

Frye said Mangione handed over a fake New Jersey driver’s license and became quiet and started to shake when asked if he’d been to New York recently.

After cops failed to verify his ID, he told them his actual name and was arrested for forgery. Asked why he lied, he said, “I clearly shouldn’t have,” according to charging documents.

Cops found a black 3D-printed pistol and silencer in his backpack after an inspection. It appeared to match the murder weapon seen in security video of the shooting, police sources told the New York Daily News.

The pistol had one loaded Glock magazine with six 9mm full metal jacket rounds and one loose hollow point round.

At the press conference in Pennsylvania on Monday evening, Lt. Col. George Bivens from the state police said Mangione tried to keep his devices undetectable and was generally “very careful with trying to stay low profile, avoid cameras — not all that successfully in some cases.”

According to Pennsylvania prosecutors, Mangione had about $10,000 in cash on him. The NYPD said Monday that his fake ID matched the ID used to check into the hostel and was one of several he had, including a U.S. passport.

Mangione is accused in Pennsylvania of forgery, carrying an illegal weapon, tampering with records and giving a fake ID to law enforcement. The Maryland man will be initially processed in Pennsylvania and will have an opportunity to contest or waive his extradition when charging documents are brought in New York. Pennsylvania law enforcement officials said they would make him available to the NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office when the time comes.

Mangione was also carrying a three-page, handwritten manifesto when cops found him, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday at a separate City Hall press conference.

“It does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters Monday of the manifesto.

His screed included complaints about how insurers treated a sick relative and communicated that he was sorry for any hurt he caused but that his actions were necessary, police sources told the Daily News.

One of the sources said Mangione labeled those in the health care industry as “parasites” more concerned with money than helping people.

Mangione was not on investigators’ radar before the tip, and police didn’t have his name before Monday, officials said.

“The combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what lead to this result (Monday),” Tisch said.

Added Kenny, “I really couldn’t put it on one thing, but if I had to, I’d put it on the release of that photograph from the media,” showing the shooting suspect’s face.

Mangione graduated as valedictorian of the private, all-boys Gilman School in 2016, according to the Baltimore school’s website. He went on to major in computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a master of science in engineering in 2020.

Included on an online list of books Mangione read this year, according to a website, is Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski’s “Industrial Society and its Future,” which he rated four out of five stars. Police sources said Mangione’s manifesto used language similar to his online writings about Kaczynski.

Mangione’s last known address is Honolulu, Hawaii, police said. He has connections to San Francisco and no arrest history in New York City.

His cousin is Nino Mangione, a GOP lawmaker who represents a suburban Baltimore district in the state’s House of Delegates, the lawmaker’s office confirmed Monday. There is no indication that Nino Mangione had any ties to the assassination.

Police were offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the gunman’s capture as the manhunt for the masked shooter continued. The FBI also offered $50,000 for information resulting in an arrest and conviction of the suspect.

Chilling surveillance footage shows a gunman in a hoodie, mask and sporting a large knapsack creeping up and shooting Thompson in the back on West 54th Street near Sixth Avenue at about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Officials said the 50-year-old CEO of the Minnesota-based company was walking toward the Hilton to help prepare for an investor day conference sponsored by UnitedHealthcare.

After shooting Thompson in the back, the gunman fled the scene on a bicycle and disappeared in Central Park, but cops picked up his trail late Wednesday night on the Upper West Side.

Cops found the words “Deny,” “Delay,” and “Depose” written on the bullets — a supposed insurance industry mantra for delaying claims and maximizing profits — leading police to believe that the killer has a beef with the insurance industry.

NYPD detectives, with the help of Port Authority police, managed to track the gunman’s movements from when he first arrived in the city. Police sources said the suspect arrived in Manhattan on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta on the evening of Nov. 24, more than a week before unraveling his murder plot.

He found his way to the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue near West 104th Street, where cops recovered images of the suspect without a mask and smiling at someone behind the reception desk.

At Monday night’s press conference, the officer who apprehended Mangione was asked about arresting the most sought-after suspect in the country so soon into his new gig.

“I can’t say I was expecting it,” Frye said. “It feels good to get a guy like that off the street, especially starting my career this way.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro expressed his condolences to Thompson’s family and said Mangione wasn’t the folk hero people “in some dark corners” had built him up to be.

“Hear me on this, he is no hero,” Shapiro said. “The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”

_____

( Daily News staff writer David Goldiner contributed to this story.)

_____