Luigi Mangione's Mother Told FBI She 'Could See Him' Shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Jeff Swensen/Getty

Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is led into the Blair County Courthouse for an extradition hearing December 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Mangione has been arraigned on weapons and false identification charges related to the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. Mangione is incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania awaiting extradition to New York.

Jeff Swensen/Getty

Two days before her son was apprehended,Luigi Mangione’smother told investigators she “could see him” shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, New York police said on Tuesday.

The bombshell disclosure came as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced anindictment against Mangione on first-degree murder charges, predicated on the allegation that the Dec. 4 killing of Thompson was an act of terrorism.

Once the tip was received, Kenny said a task force of FBI and NYPD personnel reached out to Mangione’s mom on Dec. 7.

“They had a conversation where she didn’t indicate that it was her son in the photograph,” Kenny said. “But she said it might be something that she could see him doing.”

The information was “going to be passed along to the detectives the next morning, but fortunately we apprehended him before we could act on that,” Kenny continued.

Requests for comment from Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, and his cousin Nino Mangione, a Maryland politician who’d previously issued a statement on behalf of the suspect’s family, were not immediately returned.

Mangione, 26, was reportedly not in contact with his family or friends for six months before beingarrestedon Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. after an eagle-eyed customer alerted staff they believed a person resembling the shooting suspect was on the premises. Police say he was carrying a 9 mm “ghost gun,” a suppressor and several fake IDs.

The Ivy League-educated scion of a prominent Maryland family is suspected of approaching Thompson, CEO of one of America’s largest health insurers, on the street in Midtown Manhattan early on Dec. 4 and opening fire. Thompson, 50, was hit in the back and leg and died shortly thereafter in a local hospital.

Brian Thompson.UnitedHealth Group

Brian Thompson

UnitedHealth Group

Further, the words “deny” and “depose” were found on shell casings at the scene of the crime and “delay” was found on a bullet — similar to a phrase used to describe the health insurance industry’s practices for refusing claims. Fingerprints on those casings, as well as a water bottle and granola bar found at the scene,match Mangione’s, according to police.

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A Reddit account believed to belong to Mangionediscussed suffering chronic back pain, including a misaligned spine for which he received surgery, as well as irritable bowel syndrome and other ailments.

First-degree murder charges in New York require specific aggravating factors and are only doled out in exceptional circumstances, such as when a defendant is accused of killing a police officer or trial witness, carrying out contract killings, or committing acts of terrorism.

Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on separate weapons and forgery charges in that state. New York prosecutors are seeking to have him extradited,something Mangione is presently challenging, though that’s subject to change. He isdue back in court on Thursday, Dec. 19.

source: people.com