A significant number of law enforcement personnel welcomed Mangione on the helipad, including NYPD officers, tactical gear-clad officers with long guns, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task force members, along with NYPD motorcycles and two law enforcement boats on the water.
CNN’s Brynn Gingras on-site remarked, “This is quite a scene. I have never seen this many officials here for the arrival of a defendant in a case.”
NOW: Luigi Mangione was just perp walked from an NYPD helicopter into Manhattan
That’s a hell if a police presence
Even Mayor Eric Adams is there with him too. pic.twitter.com/zBsnKtst0v
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 19, 2024
Mangione is in court as of this writing and is expected to be arraigned shortly.
Adams explained why he was there:
Adams emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating, “This act of terrorism and the violence that stems from (Mangione’s case) is something that will not be tolerated in the city. We wanted to personally be here to show the symbolism of leading from the front,” he told the press after the escort.
Meanwhile, federal authorities have filed their own charges against Mangione, which they say take precedence over Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s charges. The fed’s charges could make him eligible for the death penalty:
According to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday morning, he’s been charged with murder through use of a firearm, two stalking charges and a firearms offense.
Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction in the case because of Mangione’s “travel in interstate commerce” – taking a bus from Atlanta to New York prior to the killing – as well as “use of interstate facilities” by allegedly utilizing a cell phone and the internet “to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and killing of Brian Thompson in the vicinity of West 54th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.”
