The man accused of killing a UnitedHealthcare executive could waive his extradition to New York as he remains jailed in Pennsylvania.
26-year-old Luigi Mangione was taken into custody for firearm-related offenses on Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania just before being accused of second-degree murder of Brian Thompson in Manhattan, New York. District Attorney Alvin Bragg mentioned that Mangione, who had previously objected to being sent to New York, might decide to waive his extradition as soon as Tuesday, as reported by ABC.
“I want to get him back here in the State of New York and run him through our criminal justice system,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Thursday, per CBS. “Because that horrific attack occurred on our streets, and the people of our city deserve to have that sense of calm that this perpetrator has been caught and he will never see the light of day again, if there is justice. You cannot assassinate an individual on the streets of New York. Not now, not ever.”
CBS reported that Mangione is housed at Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, a maximum-security prison. He is not on suicide watch or solitary confinement, said correctional officials who also told CBS that he has not been violent.
READ: Accused UHC Killer Saw Himself as ‘Martyr & Example to Follow,’ Cops Say
Mangione, 26, was arrested in Pennsylvania on Monday, days after he reportedly killed Thompson, 50, in Manhattan. He was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona after an employee believed he resembled widely publicized photos of Thompson’s alleged killer and called the police.
In addition to allegedly having a gun with a silencer and fake IDs, Mangione reportedly also had a two-page manifesto that decried the healthcare industry as “parasites.” Shortly after Mangione’s arrest, New York officials held a press coverage in which they hinted at the motive in Thompson’s murder. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione, a data engineer with a master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, “has some ill will towards corporate America.”
Mangione is charged with firearm offenses in Pennsylvania, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He has challenged his extradition to New York — where he is charged with Thompson’s second-degree murder.
Mangione remains jailed without bail.
[Feature Photo: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections]
