Luigi Mangione has been charged in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson was gunned down outside a Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024, in what authorities described as a targeted attack. Mangione, 27, was arrested five days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a nationwide manhunt, and he has since pleaded not guilty to both state and federal charges.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny announced Mangione’s arrest on December 9, 2024.
“A man was taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania this morning. He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione,” Kenny said. “He’s a male, 26 years old, he was born and raised in Maryland. We know he has ties to San Francisco, California, and his last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii. He has no prior arrest history in New York.”
The case has continued to evolve as Mangione fights the charges in court. In January 2026, a federal judge dismissed murder and weapons charges that could have made him eligible for the death penalty, though he still faces several serious charges in both state and federal court, including second-degree murder and weapons-related offenses. Then, in May 2026, a New York judge ruled that some evidence recovered from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest could not be introduced at trial because the initial search was unlawful. However, prosecutors will still be allowed to use other key evidence, including a gun, silencer and notebook recovered during a later police station search. His state trial is currently scheduled to begin in September 2026.
Learn more about the reported person of interest in Thompson’s case, below.
UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin suspect identified as Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old former Ivy League student.
He was taken into custody this morning at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s and caught with a manifesto that appeared to list grievances with the healthcare industry – he has not… pic.twitter.com/vL2puIHr7e
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 9, 2024
Who Shot Brian Thompson?
Mangione was first named a person of interest in the case, according to the New York Post. Mangione was taken into custody by police at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9 — five days after Thompson was fatally shot.
Who Is Luigi Mangione?
Mangione is an engineer who was first named a person of interest in Thompson’s shooting, the New York Post reported.
When Mangione was stopped by police in Pennsylvania, he was caught with a gun, silencer, four fake IDs and a manifesto that focused on the U.S. healthcare industry’s profits and motives, according to the outlet.
Mangione is an outspoken advocate in the technology industry, his X account shows. Additionally, the NYPD reported that Mangione previously “liked” social media posts from Ted Kaczynski — a.k.a the “Unabomber.”
Luigi Mangione Was an Ivy League Student
Mangione earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree at the University of Pennsylvania in engineering, computer and information science, according to a LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Mangione.
Mangione’s Past Job Experience, According to His LinkedIn
According to a LinkedIn page that appears to be Mangione’s, he has worked as a data engineer at TrueCar, Inc. in Santa Monica, California, for four years. His profile location notes that he had been living in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Before joining TrueCar, Mangione’s page indicates that he was the founder and project lead of a University of Pennsylvania video game development program from 2016 to 2020. In 2019, he worked as the head counselor to an “artificial intelligence teaching assistant” at Stanford University.
While at his alma mater, UPenn, Mangione worked as a teaching assistant in the “head of recitation committee.”
Luigi Mangione’s Family Owns a Country Club
According to Los Angeles Magazine, Mangione’s parents own the Turf Valley Resort and Hayfields Country Club.
Why Was Brian Thompson Shot?
Newly revealed diary entries and a manifesto suggest Mangione planned Thompson’s killing well in advance and saw him as a symbol of what Mangione viewed as a corrupt and exploitative healthcare industry. In his writings, Mangione railed against “the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel” and argued that targeting an industry executive would “convey a greedy bastard that had it coming.”
Mangione also appears to have been motivated by a chronic back injury and dissatisfaction with the care (or perceived failures) from medical systems and health insurance. He allegedly felt ignored and mistreated by the healthcare industry.
