NEW YORK (AP) — The person charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was by no means a consumer of the medical insurer and should have focused it due to its measurement and affect, a senior police official stated Thursday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny instructed NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered proof that Luigi Mangione had prior information UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor convention in New York Metropolis.
Mangione additionally talked about the corporate in a word present in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania.
“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that’s possibly why he targeted that that company,” stated Kenny.
Mangione stays jailed with out bail in Pennsylvania, the place he was arrested Monday after being noticed at a McDonald’s within the metropolis of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York Metropolis. His lawyer there stated he hasn’t seen any proof but linking him to the crime.
Mangione’s arrest got here 5 days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outdoors a Manhattan lodge.
Police say the shooter waited outdoors the lodge, the place the well being insurer was holding its investor convention, early on the morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him earlier than fleeing on a bicycle via Central Park, then heading to a bus depot.
Mangione is preventing makes an attempt to extradite him again to New York in order that he can face a homicide cost in Thompson’s killing. A listening to has been scheduled for Dec. 30.
The 26-year-old, who police say was discovered with a “ ghost gun ” matching shell casings discovered on the website of the capturing, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and offering false identification to police. His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, stated his consumer isn’t responsible.
Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a distinguished Maryland actual property household. On Wednesday, police stated investigators are trying into an accident that injured Mangione’s again and despatched him to an emergency room in July 2023. They’re additionally his writings in regards to the harm and his criticism of company America and the U.S. well being care system.
Kenny stated within the NBC interview that Mangione’s household reported him lacking to San Francisco authorities in November.