The suspect accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare has been forcibly returned to court for extradition to New York, where he is facing murder charges.
Luigi Mangione, who is due to make a court appearance in front of a Pennsylvania judge, was held back by law enforcement officials as he criticized the situation as “unjust and offensive to the intelligence of the American populace.”
During his scheduled hearing on Tuesday, at least three deputies had to physically restrain the 26-year-old Mangione and lead him into the courthouse, gripping him by the neck.
Moments before the outburst, Altoona officers pushed back reporters from the courthouse entrance before a police cruiser arrived with an irate Mangione inside.
The alleged assassin’s explosion comes 24 hours after he appeared in court on Monday evening for a preliminary arraignment on gun and forgery charges.
Mangione faces extradition to New York City, where prosecutors filed second-degree murder charges against him for the December 4 assassination of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.
The suspect was arrested on Monday while eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, about 280 miles west of the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where Thompson was killed after an employee recognized him from the suspect’s wanted posters out of New York City.
Authorities found Mangione in possession of several fake identifications, a ghost gun, and a silencer, which investigators said he used to murder Thompson, 50.
