‘These parasites simply had it coming’: Luigi Mangione, suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing, now charged with murder

Luigi Mangione — the suspect in last week’s fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City — is now charged with murder.

Manhattan prosecutors late Monday filed murder and other charges against the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, the Associated Press reported, citing an online court docket. The New York Times, citing court records, reported that the initial murder charge is for second-degree murder.

Mangione remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery, and providing false identification to police, the AP said.

The outlet added that a McDonald’s customer in Altoona — which is about two hours east of Pittsburgh — spotted Mangione on Monday morning, notified an employee, and soon police arrived to question him.

Police indicated in a criminal complaint that they recognized Mangione as soon as he pulled down his mask at their request in the restaurant. When they asked Mangione if he’d been in New York City recently, police said he was quiet but started shaking.

Later Monday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters that Altoona police arrested Mangione on firearm charges and that he was believed to be “our person of interest.”

‘Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming’

The AP — citing a law enforcement official unauthorized to discuss the investigation publicly and who spoke with the outlet on the condition of anonymity — said a three-page, handwritten document found in Mangione’s possession includes a line in which he claims to have acted alone.

“To the feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official who spoke with the AP.

The document also contains the following line, the AP reported: “I do apologize for any strife or traumas, but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”

According to the Times, the 262-word “manifesto” also says that as UnitedHealthcare’s market capitalization has grown, American life expectancy has not — and it condemns companies that “continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”

Mangione reportedly had back surgery last year

The paper added that friends said Mangione lived with significant, sometimes debilitating, back pain, which prevented him from surfing and negatively affected his romantic life; he underwent surgery for it last year.

The Times said R.J. Martin — a friend of Mangione who had lived with him in Honolulu — asked via text how his surgery went, and Mangione replied, “Long story,” and did not elaborate.

“His spine was kind of misaligned,” Martin told the paper. “He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes, he’d be doing well and other times not.”

Nino Mangione — a Maryland state delegate and a cousin of Luigi Mangione — told the Times in a statement on behalf of the Mangione family that they “only know what we have read in the media” and that they were “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.” The paper said the statement adds that “we offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson, and we ask people to pray for all involved.”

Anything else?

Bullet casings found at the scene of Thompson’s killing in front of a Manhattan Hilton hotel Wednesday — which New York City police called a “brazen” and “premeditated, preplanned targeted attack” — apparently were inscribed with words referring to health insurance claim denial tactics.

Just hours after the fatal shooting, Thompson’s wife said her husband had been threatened. Paulette Thompson told NBC News in a phone call that “there had been some threats. Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”

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