The man accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been charged with first- and second-degree murder. Luigi Mangione shot to infamy after the killing, which he described in a manifesto as motivated by anger at the US’ for-profit healthcare system.
The indictments were handed down by a grand jury in New York on Monday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced at a press conference.
Mangione is currently detained in Pennsylvania, but the authorities in New York will seek his extradition, Bragg said last week.
If found guilty, the 26-year-old will face 20 years to life for the first-degree murder charge, and 15 to life for each of the two second-degree charges. First-degree murder charges are rare in New York, and are usually only used if a police officer, judge, or emergency responder is killed, or in cases of contract killing or terrorism.
Bragg told reporters that one of the second-degree charges was filed for murder “as an act of terrorism.”
Thompson was fatally shot outside a Hilton hotel in central Manhattan by a masked, hooded attacker on December 4. Mangione was apprehended by police in Pennsylvania five days later with a gun and a silencer “consistent with those used in the murder,” a handwritten manifesto, fake IDs, and a face mask.
“Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,” Mangione wrote in his manifesto, adding that “the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy.”
“It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play,” he continued, concluding: “Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty."
Mangione has since become an online folk hero to many on the American left, while an Emerson College poll this week found that 41% of 18-29-year-olds considered his alleged actions “acceptable.” Police in Florida arrested a woman last week for phoning in a death threat to the Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance company, in what appeared to be a copycat case inspired by Mangione’s alleged acts.