CNN
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Marked shell casings found at the assassination scene match the gun the suspect was carrying. His fingerprints matched several important items that investigators found nearby. And this week, after months of silence from his mother and friends, he was arrested with fake identification and a handwritten statement referring to the crime scene.
These details and others shared by law enforcement and people who knew Luigi Mangione have been shared since UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in broad daylight last week on a busy sidewalk in midtown Manhattan. , is increasing.
Authorities have executed up to three search warrants in New York as part of the investigation into Thompson’s murder, sources told CNN.
A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN that at least two of the warrants were for a backpack found in Central Park and a burner type found along the escape route that police believe Mangione took from the scene of the shooting. He said that includes cell phones. Investigators also searched the hostel where the alleged killer, Mangione, had stayed the night before the shooting, and the hotel room where Thompson had stayed while in New York.
Mangione, 26, is now charged with murder after a tip on Monday led to his arrest after a five-day multi-state investigation that included surveillance footage and asked for the public’s help. Where a brazen murder took place.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury in the case against Mangione, sources told ABC News.
Mangione was charged with a felony arrest warrant earlier this week. Presenting evidence to a grand jury is the next step in obtaining an indictment.
Blair County Judge David Consiglio scheduled a hearing in Pennsylvania for Dec. 30 on Mangione’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and the imposition of bail, court documents showed Thursday. It became.
Mangione was denied bail during a court appearance in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. A petition for habeas corpus is a key element in whether a suspect can be extradited to New York.
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said Mangione’s team has two weeks starting Tuesday to file a habeas corpus petition, and that Mangione’s team has two weeks to file a habeas corpus petition before New York state issues a warrant for his arrest. The question is about Pennsylvania’s ability to prove that he is the person who did it.
Mr. Mangione is scheduled to appear in court in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 23rd for a preliminary hearing on the state charges.
Mr. Mangione’s lawyer has denied his client’s involvement in the Dec. 4 murder, and only charges related to a 3D-printed gun and fake ID in Pennsylvania, where Mr. Mangione was staying. He is expected to plead not guilty to murder and other charges in New York. He was captured and is being held without bond.
Defense attorney Thomas Dickey also on Wednesday dismissed the ballistics and fingerprint evidence that was publicly disclosed hours earlier, saying he wanted to examine it himself.
“These two sciences have themselves been subject to some criticism in the past regarding their reliability, truthfulness, and accuracy,” Dickey said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront.” ” he said.
“As lawyers, we need to understand that. We need to know how they collected it. How much? And have an expert look at it and find out its admissibility. and dispute the accuracy of the results.”
Still, New York’s governor said he expects a murder indictment “will be issued any minute now, and we’ll issue an extradition warrant the minute that happens.”
“I feel like the evidence is very convincing,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I have every confidence that the prosecutors here in Manhattan will bring forth an iron-clad indictment.”
Meanwhile, Hochul is unimpressed by the national hero status Mangione has achieved on social media. The murder of Thompson, a husband and father of two, exposed the anger of many Americans toward the medical industry.
An NYPD intelligence report said Mr. Mangione appeared to be motivated by anger at the industry as a whole and “corporate greed,” and that his online rhetoric “reflected the growing threat facing executives in the short term.” It also warns that there is a possibility that
“That horrific attack happened on our streets,” Hochul said Thursday. “And the people of our city should have a sober sense that this perpetrator will be caught and that justice will never be seen again.”
“You can’t assassinate individuals on the streets of New York — not now, not ever.”
A UnitedHealth Group spokesperson said Thursday that neither Mr. Mangione nor his mother were members of UnitedHealthcare.
Until he was found in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Mangione had remained silent from at least a few people who believed he was close to her. The scion of a wealthy Baltimore family, high school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate, he has maintained an active presence on social media over the years, posting smiling photos from his travels and promoting weightlifting. They shared their habits and discussed health challenges they faced.
Mangione’s mother had reported him missing on Nov. 18, two weeks before Thompson was killed, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN on Wednesday. Knowing her son lived there, she called San Francisco police and told authorities she had called his phone multiple times, only to find that his voicemail was full and he was not taking messages. said.
Mangione’s mother told San Francisco police there was no reason to believe her son was a danger to himself or others, but she had not actually spoken to him since July 1, authorities said. said the person. He was working remotely at Trucar, where phone lines were disconnected and the office was closed, the person added.
Mangione also does not appear to have posted anything on social media since midsummer, and posts to his X account suggest that some of his friends are trying to contact him.
In July, a user tweeted that Mangione “hasn’t heard from me in months” and urged Mangione to let the company know if it would be able to keep the “promise” it had made regarding the user’s wedding. In late November, just weeks before the shooting, another user wrote to Mangione: “I’m thinking of you and praying in your name every day. Please know that you are missed and loved.”
Mangione shouted, in part, as he entered a Pennsylvania courthouse this week with his hands and feet shackled and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. “It’s completely outrageous and an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It’s a lived experience.”
“He’s frustrated and upset about what’s happening to him and what he’s being accused of,” Dickey told CNN about Mangione’s verbal abuse and struggle with police.
“He didn’t have any legal representation until he walked into that building yesterday. And I talked to him… Look at the difference between when he walked in and when he came out… now. He has a publicist and he has people who will fight for him.”
Suspect linked to fingerprints and gun
New York police on Wednesday released the first forensic matches and direct physical evidence linking Mangione to Thompson’s murder, law enforcement officials told CNN.
“We have recovered the gun in question from Pennsylvania and it is currently in the NYPD crime lab,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “We were able to match the gun to three shell casings found at the midtown murder scene.”
Police said Mangione had a 3D-printed gun in his possession when he was arrested on Monday.
A law enforcement source told CNN that the three 9mm cartridges had the words “delay,” “reject,” and “discard” written on them, one word for each. Police are investigating whether the words, which match the title of a 2010 book criticizing the insurance industry, may indicate a motive for the killing.
Authorities are also examining DNA material and partial fingerprints taken from discarded Starbucks water bottles and energy bar wrappers, and found surveillance images showing the suspects purchased the products. Ta. about 30 minutes ago shooting. Tisch said Mangione’s fingerprints were confirmed to be a match.
In addition to footprints and trajectory, investigators are examining documents including a three-page handwritten statement of crime that police say Mangione had in his possession at the time of his arrest. New York City Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney said the attack did not contain any specific threats, but showed “malice toward American businesses.”
Kenney told Fox News on Tuesday that Mangione knew that UnitedHealthcare was holding an investor meeting around the time Thompson was shot and had mentioned in writing that he would be there. Ta.
Kenney added that in some of his writings he has mentioned pain from a back injury he sustained in July 2023. Investigators are considering filing an insurance claim for the injury.
“Some of the things he wrote talked about how difficult it was to continue with that injury,” Kenney said. “So we’re investigating whether the insurance industry denied his claim or failed to provide maximum assistance.”
Law enforcement officials briefed on the case told CNN that investigators are also looking into the suspect’s writings in the spiral notebook.
Officials say it included a to-do list to facilitate the killing and notes justifying the plan. In one passage, Mangione writes about the late Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who justified the deadly bombing campaign as an effort to protect against the onslaught of technology and exploitation. Mangione also wrote about the Unabomber in online posts.
In a passage in his notes, Mangione concludes that using bombs against intended victims “could kill innocent people,” and that shootings would be more targeted and “dead A law enforcement official explained that he was wondering what could be better than “killing the CEO in a counting meeting.” He spoke to CNN about the matter.
“He appears to view the targeted killing of the company’s most senior representatives as a symbolic dismantling and a direct challenge to corruption allegations and ‘power games’, and in the memo he claims to have ‘ “This is the first time he has approached this case with such brutal honesty,” said the NYPD’s review, which was based on Mangione’s writings and social media.
CNN’s Dalia Faheed, Michelle Watson and Bonnie Cupp; Dakine Undone Sara Smart, Gloria Pazmino, Amanda Musa, Celina Tebor, Elise Hammond, Emma Tucker, Jordan Valinsky, Danny Freeman, Kara Scannell and Ashley R. Williams contributed to this report.
