Luigi Mangione, UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect, has outburst on way to court, fights extradition to NYC
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. -- Luigi Mangione, the suspect in last week's killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, faced an extradition hearing on murder charges Tuesday afternoon.
Mangione was denied bail but contested extradition to New York. Pennsylvania now has 30 days to get a warrant from Gov. Kathy Hochul for extradition. Mangione was remanded to State Correctional Institution Huntingdon in Huntingdon County.
"Contesting it, you know, just provides more hoops for law enforcement, prosecutors to jump through, but we're happy to do that," Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said.
In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul said:
"I'm deeply grateful to the men and women of law enforcement whose efforts to solve the horrific murder of Brian Thompson led to the arrest of a suspect in Pennsylvania. I am coordinating with the District Attorney's Office and will sign a request for a governor's warrant to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable. Public safety is my top priority and I'll do everything in my power to keep the streets of New York safe."
Authorities say the extradition process to New York could now take as many as 30 days.
Mangione's newly retained defense attorney, Thomas Dickey, spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.
"If you're an American, you believe in the American criminal justice system, you have to presume him to be innocent," Dickey said. "None of us would want anything other than that if that were us in those shoes."
Mangione did not seem to be nervous in the courtroom. As he waited for the judge, he looked around at the rows of reporters, seeming to count the number of people in the room. At times, he smiled.
At one point during the hearing, Mangione's defense attorney was positing that his having several face masks in his backpack was not inherently suspicious because they could've been left from COVID when Mangione loudly interrupted to say he had just bought the masks. At that point, his attorney shushed his own client and told him in front of the courtroom not to say a word. Mangione took his attorney's advice.
Right before entering the courthouse, however, Mangione was seen on video pulling away from members of the Blair County Sheriff's Department and screaming, "This is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!" before he was pinned against a wall and forced inside. It's unclear what he was responding to.
"He gets out of the car and then he immediately has this outburst, so was that brought about by the fact that the cameras are on, the media was there and it immediately put him into the role of wanting a lot of attention?" said former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole.
"He had a mask and hood and a backpack"
Investigators are pouring through what they call a mountain of evidence, trying to fill in the gaps of his journey and determine if he acted alone.
The 26-year-old was caught five days after the shooting after a customer spotted him at a McDonald's in Altoona, which is about 300 miles away from the shooting scene in Midtown Manhattan.
A witness named Larry said he and friends saw Mangione sitting alone.
"He had a mask and hood and a backpack," said Larry, a regular at the fast-food restaurant. "The one guy said, 'It looks like the shooter from New York.' Well, then we laughed and I guess he placed his order and we went on about our business, but we were kidding, like, wouldn't that be something?"
Another customer recognized Mangione from the wanted photos and told an employee, who called police. Officers responded and began asking Mangione if he had recently been in New York City.
"He became visibly nervous, kind of shaking at that question, and he didn't really answer it directly," Altoona Police Deputy Chief Derick Swope told reporters Monday.
When prompted for his ID, police said he gave a fake New Jersey drivers license, which investigators believe was the same one used to check into a Manhattan hostel 10 days before the shooting.
According to court documents, officers asked why he would lie to them about the ID.
"I clearly shouldn't have," Mangione said.
"We didn't think twice about it, we knew it was our guy," Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye said.
Police arrested Mangione on a forgery charge, and, once in custody, they searched his backpack, where they found a U.S. passport, clothes that matched the gunman's description, a 3D-printed pistol with a suppressor that was consistent with the murder weapon, and a three-page handwritten note.
Police sources say investigators are referring to the note as a claim of responsibility. Intelligence officers with the NYPD believe that the suspect's grievances about UnitedHealthcare and other health insurance companies are what motivated the murder.
"We don't think there's any specific threats to others mentioned in that document, but it does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
The McDonald's has since hired private security because employees told police they're worried for their safety, and the Altoona Police Department, itself, has been receiving multiple emails and calls, including death threats since Monday's arrest.
Piecing together Mangione's time on the run
Police also said Mangione was carrying various electronic devices, which they believe he was using to evade detection.
"He was very careful with trying to stay low profile, avoid cameras," said Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens.
Investigators said the most crucial clue in the investigation was a photo from the hostel where the suspect pulled down his mask.
The NYPD has been working around the clock to track his movements -- from his arrival by bus to New York City, to his escape from the crime scene by bicycle to Central Park, and his taxi ride to an uptown bus terminal, where they believe he fled.
Police believe he left New York City and had been traveling around Pennsylvania in the days after. They believe he took a Greyhound bus to Philadelphia and spent some time there before going to Pittsburgh and eventually Altoona.
"If you have any information regarding this suspect or his travels throughout Pennsylvania, please share those tips with us immediately," Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said.
Experts say now that an arrest has been made, police can further search for witnesses who may have had contact with Mangione.
"As they were trying to apprehend him, they didn't have the ability to go out and find out and cast a wide net on who else interacted with him. Now they can. They have the luxury of time to slow down and find those additional individuals," said former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow.
Who is Luigi Mangione?
CBS News has learned Mangione is from a prominent Maryland family that owns country clubs, health care facilities and real estate companies. He graduated valedictorian from the private, all boys Gilman School, got his Masters in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and also has ties to Stanford.
Freddie Leatherbury, a former prep school classmate and childhood friend, said Mangione was nice, smart and didn't have any enemies during his time at school.
"I can tell you that this is one of the last people you think would do something like this. You know, he was one of the nicest kids, most friendly kids, that I had known at Gilman," Leatherbury said.
"There was nothing [that] came off weird about him. He had great friends," Leatherbury added. "He was down to earth, he was smart, well-adjusted socially. He was at least a two-sport athlete, from what I can remember, and he really had everything going for him."
Leatherbury said he hasn't been in contact with Mangione in years.
"Hope that they can heal as a family, and certainly the family, of course, of Brian Thompson, of course, is in everybody's forefront, thoughts and prayers as well. That's just terrible for them, too," Leatherbury said.
The Mangione family released a statement overnight saying they are devastated and shocked by the news.
"Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione. We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest," the statement read. "We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news."
According to his LinkedIn account, Mangione last worked as a data engineer at a vehicle-buying website called True Car in 2023. In recent months, posts tagging him on social media imply he lost touch with friends, with some asking where he was and what he was doing, and wishing him the best and hoping that he was OK.
Mangione's mother filed a missing persons report in San Francisco in November amid concerns the family had because Mangione was not communicating.
CBS News has also learned Mangione had been living at a co-working, co-living space called Surfbreak in Honolulu up until 2022, when a spokesperson for that community says he left due to a lifelong back injury that was exacerbated by surfing and hiking.
Sources tell CBS News back pain was a major factor in his life and appeared to be a source of pain and frustration for him.
"I was roommates with him, friends. Hiked, went to yoga. He did his best to be athletic," said R.J. Martin, a former friend and roommate from Surfbreak. "Unfathomable knowing the kind of person that I saw and knew. Personally, I can make zero sense of it. There is never a justification for violence."
Martin said he vetted Mangione to see if he'd be a good fit for Surfbreak.
"He wanted to be in Hawaii and stay healthy, experience different cultures," he said. "The only times I noticed when he wasn't being social, I think, was when he was in severe pain ... I do know he was suffering from a spinal misalignment ... Then something had to do with his care back home, so he was always weighing on him."
A spokesperson for Surfbreak said they believe Mangione returned to Hawaii in 2023 and started a book club, which they said several members left due to "discomfort in book choices."
Martin said Mangione facilitated deep conversations for that book club, which discussed the manifesto from the notorious Unabomber.
"Never once thought of it ... that it would affect anyone's life or spur action for anyone in the group," Martin said. "He never once mentioned anything about violence ... Never once did guns come up in a conversation."
