The mother of Luigi Mangione reportedly told authorities that she "could see him" being behind the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
As reported by People, the FBI and NYPD contacted Luigi's mother Kathleen Mangione on December 7 because she had filed a missing report the previous month and they received a tip from the San Francisco Police Department, who suggested that Mangione resembled the man seen in security video footage from a hostel in NYC. "They had a conversation where she didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. "But she said it might be something that she could see him doing."
The meeting happened just two days before Mangione was identified as the leading suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare's CEO and arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Dec. 9. Authorities planned to pass the information to detectives the day after the meeting, "but fortunately we apprehended him before we could act on that."
Before his arrest for the Dec. 4 killing of Thompson, the 26-year-old former Ivy League student was reported missing by his mother. He reportedly didn't have contact with his family or friends in the six months leading up to the shooting. When he was arrested, he was found carrying several fake IDs, a 9mm firearm with a suppressor, and cash he claimed wasn't his.
He was also in possession of a handwritten manifesto, in which he was heavily critical of the healthcare insurance industry. "These parasites had it coming,” he reportedly wrote in the suspected manifesto. "I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done."
Luigi Mangione is facing charges of second-degree murder, carrying a gun without a license, forgery, providing false identification to law enforcement, possession of an instrument of crime, and first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism. Ahead of his trial, he has retained high-profile lawyer Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, who is married to Marc Agnifilo, who is one of the lawyers representing Diddy.
