Arrest photos of Luigi Mangione released in court documents show the accused UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin eating at McDonald’s before capture. The images, which appear to be still frames taken from bodycam video, show Mangione eating alone in a corner of the restaurant while wearing a medical mask, pulling the mask down as he speaks with an officer, and then being placed in handcuffs.
Mangione’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to suppress evidence collected during his arrest, contending that officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, improperly seized items from his backpack and questioned him before reading his Miranda rights. The Justice Department counters that the search of his backpack was justified due to safety concerns and that the only pre-Miranda statement prosecutors plan to use against him is when he allegedly lied about his name in response to a question that did not require the Miranda warning.
Court documents reveal that Mangione was a 27-year-old father of two from Minnesota. He was visiting New York City for an investor conference when he was murdered. Surveillance video shows him walking outside a Manhattan hotel on his way to the conference when a masked man approached from behind and opened fire. Mangione allegedly fled the area on a bicycle and then took a bus out of town.
Five days later, customers at the Altoona McDonald’s recognized him from a wanted poster and called police. They arrested him at the scene and allegedly recovered the murder weapon in his bag, along with writings critical of the health insurance industry. Mangione’s lawyers have rejected the term ‘manifesto’ to describe his journals. While some supporters have embraced him as an anti-capitalist crusader, Mangione’s stops at a Manhattan Starbucks and the Pennsylvania McDonald’s both played a role in his capture, according to prosecutors.
Mangione is accused of ‘meticulously’ planning the murder with the motive of igniting a ‘public discussion about the healthcare industry,’ according to the DOJ. New York prosecutors said Mangione plotted to travel to New York; find Thompson, a Minnesota resident in town for UnitedHealthcare’s investor conference; and kill him. Mangione allegedly shot Thompson from behind with a 3D-printed ghost gun and suppressor.