Luigi Mangione indicted in UnitedHealthcare CEO murder

A New York grand jury indicted Luigi Mangione on charges of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Mangione, 26, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism.

He is also charged in the Manhattan Supreme Court indictment with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon and a single count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to file paperwork seeking Mangione’s extradition from Pennsylvania, where the Ivy League graduate has been held since he was arrested last week at a McDonald’s. A source familiar with the situation told NBC News on Tuesday that Mangione plans to waive extradition, which would allow him to be transported to New York within days.

Mangione, who comes from a prominent Baltimore-area family, faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted.

He is accused of fatally shooting Thompson on Dec. 4 outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Thompson, 50, was headed into the hotel for an investor day event for his company’s parent, UnitedHealth Group.

“This was a killing to evoke terror,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a news conference. “This was not an ordinary killing … this was extraordinary.”

Bragg called the killing “brazen” and “targeted.

He also said “we have indications” that Mangione will waive his right to an extradition hearing on Thursday in Pennsylvania, and consent to be sent to New York to face the murder case.

Read the full indictment.

New York Police Department Jessica Tisch blasted people who have celebrated the killing of Thompson because of criticism that his company, the largest private health insurer in the United States, denied benefit claims by customers at a high rate.

“Let me say plainly: There is no heroism in what Mangione did,” Tisch said at Tuesday’s news conference. “We don’t celebrate murders.”

Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after police responded to a call of a suspicious person at the restaurant. He allegedly gave officers a fake New Jersey ID that is believed to be the same one he used to check into a Manhattan hostel in late November.

Police found a gun, a silencer, and ammunition in his backpack. The gun matched three shell casings found outside the shooting scene in Manhattan, and Mangione’s fingerprints matched ones found on a water bottle and snack bar left near the scene, police said.

The shell casings found at the scene had the words “deny,” and “depose,” written on them, while an unfired bullet had the word “delay” written on it, the DA’s office said. The words match those used to describe tactics of health insurers and other insurance companies to deny claims by customers.

Prosecutors in Manhattan, hours after Mangione’s arrest, filed a criminal complaint against him charging him with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a silencer, and possession of a forged instrument.

The grand jury indictment handed up Tuesday supersedes that complaint.

Mangione, who is being held in a Pennsylvania prison without bail on gun and forgery charges, is due to appear Thursday morning in Blair County Court for two separate hearings.

The first session will be a preliminary hearing on the state criminal charges there. The second hearing, with a different judge, will deal with extradition proceedings.

Mangione was visited in the prison in Huntingdon on Friday by his New York criminal defense lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, and her husband and law partner, Marc Agnifilo.

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