Mangione Watches Video of CEO’s Killing in Hearing
Luigi Mangione watched silently in court Monday as prosecutors played surveillance footage of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk last year, as well as Mangione’s arrest five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The videos, including previously unseen restaurant footage, opened a hearing on Mangione’s bid to block certain evidence from his state murder trial, including the gun prosecutors say matches the one used in the Dec. 4, 2024, attack, the AP reports. Thompson was killed while walking to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
During the hearing, Mangione, 27, pressed a finger to his lips and a thumb to his chin while watching footage of two police officers approaching him as he ate breakfast. At times, he clenched a pen in his right hand. Prosecutors also played a 911 call from a McDonald’s manager, who said customers alerted her that Mangione resembled the suspect in Thompson’s killing. She told police she searched online for photos of the fugitive but could only see Mangione’s eyebrows, as he wore a beanie and a medical face mask.
Mangione’s defense is seeking to exclude the 9mm handgun and a notebook, which prosecutors say contained a description of his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Both items were found in a backpack he carried at the time of his arrest.
Mangione, an Ivy League-educated member of a wealthy Maryland family, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. Trial dates have not been set. The next hearing in the federal case is scheduled for Jan. 9. State terrorism charges against him were dismissed in September.
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