Police are questioning a man in Pennsylvania in connection with last week’s fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was taken in for questioning and is considered a “strong person of interest in the shooting that shook our city,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a Monday press conference.
The 26-year-old was arrested on firearms charges in Pennsylvania after a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania identified him from the photos circulating of the person of interest in Thompson’s shooting, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
He was carrying “multiple fraudulent IDs,” a US passport as well as a ghost gun and a suppresser, she said. Authorities also recovered clothing and masks that are “consistent with” those seen on the suspect in photos. Mangione was also carrying a handwritten, three-page manifesto that was critical of the health care system.
He does not have an arrest record and the investigation so far suggests Mangione acted alone, authorities said.
The new information, which is being investigated as a new lead, comes as a private funeral is set to be held Monday for Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO who was gunned down as he arrived at the Hilton hotel in Midtown for an investors’ conference.
Police have been searching for the gunman since the shooting and say at this point they believe he has left New York City.
The gunman arrived in Manhattan ahead of the shooting and used a fake ID and paid cash during the 10 days he was in the city, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters Friday.
He wore a mask covering his face most of the time he was seen on security footage – though he lowered his mask while speaking with a hotel employee. Police have circulated images of the suspect without his mask hoping that someone who may know him will come forward with information.
The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. That’s on top of a $10,000 reward offered by the NYPD.
On Friday, the officers found the shooter’s backpack in Central Park. They also found bullet casings at the scene of the shooting with the words, “delay,” “deny” and “depose” on them.
Some of those words are often used by critics of insurance companies to criticize them for delaying payments, denying claims and defending their actions.
Meanwhile in New York City, scuba divers have been searching one of the ponds in Central Park for evidence as K-9 dogs have been sniffing around in the area where the suspect’s backback was believed to have been found Friday. The backpack and its contents have been sent in for forensic testing.
