The individual accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare has appeared in court following an indictment by New York City prosecutors for the bold assassination.
Luigi Mangione was escorted into a Pennsylvania courtroom on Thursday, where he is expected to waive his extradition to New York.
A group of demonstrators showed their support for Mangione outside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, located approximately 8 miles from Altoona, where the suspect was apprehended on December 9.
The demonstrators waved “Free Luigi” and anti-insurance signs that read, “Murder For Profit Is Terrorism,” and “Death by Denial is Murder.”
Mangione, 26, was charged with 11 criminal counts, including first-degree murder in what Manhattan prosecutors said was part of an act of terrorism.
“This was a killing to invoke terror,” Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said on Tuesday.
“This was no typical homicide; not implying that any act of killing is normal, but this incident was exceptional. The New York State Legislature has outlined the distinctions between first and second-degree murder,”
“And this, we alleged, is squarely within those statutes which talk about intending to do exactly what we saw happen here.”
The suspect is accused of assassinating healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown while the executive was on his way to an investor meeting on the morning of December 4.
Mangione fired three shots at Thompson using an alleged 3D-printed ghost gun, striking the executive in the back and leg.
Bragg said Mangione methodically carried out the brazen, “well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock, and attention, and intimidation.”
