Young women on social media are expressing admiration for Luigi Mangione. He is the main suspect in the case where Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was murdered in Manhattan on Dec. 4. Authorities believe the attack was planned in advance.
James Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, mentioned that Mangione is accused of purposely targeting and killing Brian Thompson to provoke discussions on a national level. Dennehy stated that the alleged plot shows a lack of respect for human life, suggesting that murder was Mangione’s chosen solution to personal issues.
Mangione faces serious charges, including first-degree murder connected to an act of terrorism, stalking, and various other charges at the state and federal levels in New York and Pennsylvania. The victim, Brian Thompson, was a married man and a father of two from Minnesota.
Mangione allegedly shot Thompson outside the Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s annual shareholder conference was being held, in an act prosecutors believe was meant to send a message to the health care insurance industry based on a manifesto found on the suspect when he was arrested days later in Pennsylvania.
“Counter-culture and an anti-establishment sentiment has resurged more prominently in the recent past and what Luigi represents is this trend,” Camilleri said, adding that Mangione is “a young person who, in the eyes of many, has gone against ‘the man’ and acted on a resentment many feel towards major health care companies and similar large establishments.”
A courtroom sketch depicts Luigi Mangione’s appearance in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9. (Dave Klug)
“It’s a modern-day anti-establishment protest if you will — happening on social media and with Luigi as the face of it,” she explained. Similar “crazes” are seen with boy bands, artists and influencers, “which all stem from the psychological associations people make with the stars,” Camilleri said.
Michael Petegorsky, chief strategy officer at psychedelic medicine provider Mindbloom, said he has “seen firsthand how mental health struggles often manifest in unexpected ways, including collective behaviors like those we’re seeing around Luigi Mangione.”
Petegorsky pointed to frustrations with the health care insurance industry as part of the public’s infatuation with the murder suspect.
Luigi Mangione is led into an NYPD vehicle following his extradition hearing at Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. (David Dee Delgado for Fox News Digital)
“The obsession with Mangione highlights the extent of the broken mental health care system in the U.S., where millions are suffering without access to adequate care,” Petegorsky said. “When basic mental health needs go unmet, people may gravitate toward sensationalized stories or irrational groupthink as an outlet for their frustration, curiosity, or even an unconscious attempt to process deeper societal issues.”
While officials have not commented on an official motive, the public has speculated that the suspect had strong grievances with the health care insurance industry.
The 26-year-old Mangione is originally from Maryland and has recently lived in California and Hawaii. He graduated valedictorian from the Gilman School, a private, all-boys high school in Baltimore, in 2016. Mangione went on to receive his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
