Who Is Luigi Mangione? What We Know About the Ivy League Grad Suspected of Shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

Mar. 15, 2025

Luigi Mangione.Photo:Luigi Mangione/X.com

Luigi Mangione/X.com

Five days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside of a Manhattan hotel, police identifiedLuigi Mangione as the primary suspect.

Detectives reportedly found the words"deny," “defend” and “depose"on the shell casings found at the scene, police sources toldABC News. The words are similar to “Deny, delay, defend,” a phrase about the insurance industry to describe a strategy for rejecting claims. However, a motive has yet to be established.

Mangione was chargedwith one count of murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm, PEOPLE confirmed on Dec. 9.

Here’s everything to know about Luigi Mangione.

He was born and raised in Maryland

Luigi Mangione.Luigi Mangione/X.com

According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, Mangione was born and raised in Maryland. Although his last known address was in Hawaii, he also has ties to San Francisco.

Mangione was a high school valedictorian

Luigi Mangione.Luigi Mangione/Facebook

Luigi Mangione/Facebook

Mangione graduated as valedictorian from Gilman School, an all-boys independent institution in Baltimore, per hisLinkedIn.

He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania

A spokesperson for the university confirmed to PEOPLE that Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering, computer and information science.

Before starting his final year at the University of Pennsylvania, Mangione worked as an artificial intelligence teaching assistant at Stanford University in the summer of 2019.

He was a data engineer

According to Mangione’s LinkedIn, he began working as a data engineer at TrueCar, Inc., an automotive retail website based out of Santa Monica, Calif., in November 2020. However, he has not been an employee of the company since 2023, a spokesperson for TrueCar told PEOPLE.

He is the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson; Person of interest wanted for questioning regarding the Midtown Manhattan homicide of Brian Thompson.United Health Group ; New York Police Department/Facebook

United Health Group ; New York Police Department/Facebook

On Dec. 9, 2024, Mangione was identified and detained as the primary suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Thompson, which occurred five days earlier.

Thompson was arriving at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan just before 6:45 a.m. on Dec. 4 when a masked gunman shot him in the chest, in what police deemed a “targeted” attack.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a press conference that day that thegunman had been “lying in waitfor several minutes,” before he shot Thompson at least three times. (The New York Timesreported that the unidentified gunman had known which door the CEO was going to enter.)

The suspect then got on an electric Citi Bike and fled toward Central Park. With him on the loose for several days, police had been offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to his capture.

Mangione was detained while at McDonald’s

United Healthcare CEO shooting suspect.New York Police Department/Facebook

New York Police Department/Facebook

Mangione was found on Dec. 9 in a McDonald’s in Altoona, after an employee recognized him, per police.

He had a “manifesto” against healthcare companies with him

A law enforcement source told PEOPLE that Mangione had a three-page manifesto — which was critical of the healthcare insurance industry — on his person when he was detained.

During a Dec. 9 press conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said “officers recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset.”

He has pled not guilty

Luigi Mangione in 2025.STEVEN HIRSCH/POOL/AFP via Getty

STEVEN HIRSCH/POOL/AFP via Getty

Mangione is facing several charges, including murder and terrorism, across three jurisdictions. He haspled not guilty to the state chargesin New York but has not entered a plea on the federal charges.

During Mangione’sfirst court hearingon Feb. 21, he was required to remain cuffed and wear a bulletproof vest for “security reasons,” which his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo found unnecessary.

“When I go visit a Mangione at [the Metropolitan Detention Center] in Brooklyn, I sit with him, he is unshackled, he walks around freely in the visiting area, we sit in a room together without law enforcement hovering over us,” she said during a press briefing, claiming that her client is being “treated differently.”

source: people.com