The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said on Dec. 12 that there is no indication that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was a client of the company.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC that the Mangione’s actions may have been motivated by the prominence of UnitedHealthcare, known as the largest health insurer in the United States.
“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America,” Kenny told the news outlet. “So that’s possibly why he targeted that company.”
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9. He was charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Thompson which took place outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4.
Investigators found that Mangione had prior knowledge about the company’s conference scheduled at a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, the day Thompson was killed, Kenny said.
Kenny said that Mangione had posted about a “life-changing injury” that sent him to the emergency room in July 2023, an event that may have driven him to target the insurer’s CEO.
“He posted X-rays of screws being inserted into his spine. So the injury that he suffered was, was a life-changing, life-altering injury, and that’s what may have put him on this path,” he said.
Investigators also discovered that Mangione’s family had reported him as a missing person in San Francisco in November, Kenny told the news outlet.
Mangione is currently being held without bail at a state prison in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery, and falsely identifying himself to police. Prosecutors in New York are seeking his extradition.
An arrest warrant filed against him in New York stated that police officers recovered fake identification cards, “a semi-automatic pistol with what appears to be a 3D printed loaded receiver with a metal slide and a silencer,” along with “written admissions about the crime.”
Mangione, a grandson of a Maryland real estate developer and philanthropist, has a graduate degree in computer science and worked for a time at a car-buying website.
His attorney, Thomas Dickey, has said that Mangione plans to plead not guilty to the charges filed against him in Pennsylvania and a separate murder charge in New York.
“You can’t rush to judgment in this case or any case,” Dickey said on Dec. 10. “He’s presumed innocent. Let’s not forget that.”