Anonymous Police Source
Appearances
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
You know, and I think that's a really interesting question that I've been thinking about myself because to the police, to prosecutors, to the detectives who've been looking into this and talking to Brian Thompson's family and colleagues and friends, this is a homicide. This is a murder they have to investigate. This is a murder they have to solve.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
To many in the public and even some officers that I've spoken with, it's something that underscores The anger and the frustration at a system that they feel they have no control over and yet is such a huge part of their lives, their health care and how they pay for it.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So I wonder, as this case unfolds, will the public's perception of him change as we learn more about what motivated him when he did what he allegedly did, which is kill people? A man who was heading to a meeting, a father of two, and a person who is missed by colleagues, is missed by friends, is a human being.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
To many, he represents this avaricious industry, but he's also a person who was murdered in cold blood. And his killer, in the minds of the police, in the minds of investigators, in the minds of prosecutors and his family and friends, he needs to be brought to justice.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So does this investigation reveal more about him that makes the public think twice about this folk hero status that some have attached to him?
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
According to the NYPD, the shooter took off through an alley, grabbing an e-bike and riding it into Central Park, which at that time was filled with morning runners and walkers.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
I went upstairs, confirmed some tantalizing details, like they'd found Monopoly money in the backpack, that the K-9 units that are good at detecting guns had been deployed at close to where the Greyhound Depot was. So, you know, we were just going to do sort of a small update. And then just as we were doing all that, boom.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
It just very quickly developed that a man was taken into custody in Pennsylvania.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So what we learn from our police sources and from a news conference where the police address the media... Good afternoon, everyone.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
this man as the man that was photographed on various surveillance shots released by the New York Police Department as the person of interest in the shooting of Brian Thompson. He calls 911.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
Exactly. And the gun was a source of much debate online. People were trying to figure out what this gun was. And what it turns out to be is what we call a ghost gun. You know, these are guns that are assembled from parts that have been printed out from a 3D printer. And this gun is capable of firing 9mm rounds, which are the rounds that were found at the crime scene in New York.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So what we learn about this man is that his name is Luigi Mangione. He's 26 years old, and he seems to have come from a life of a lot of privilege. He was born and raised in Maryland. He went to a private school in Baltimore, the Gilman School. He was a wrestler there. He graduated as valedictorian.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
He goes on to have an Ivy League background, getting his undergrad degree and his graduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. And from there, he starts working in tech, travels a little bit around the country, living in San Francisco and in Honolulu. And he has a pretty interesting online presence. It suggests he's really well read. He's posting about books that he's read on Goodreads.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
And by all accounts, if you look at his background, he seems accomplished, but normal. And according to the police, from what they have learned so far about him, he doesn't have a criminal record. There was one citation for him trespassing in Honolulu at a state park. But other than that, his record is clean, at least according to what we know so far.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So there's very little that we know about him personally to suggest that he was going to go from valedictorian of his high school class and UPenn grad to the alleged killer of an executive in New York. But there are some clues that the police are looking at. And one of the big ones is this three-page handwritten manifesto that the police find on Luigi Mangione when he's arrested.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So in this 260-word handwritten manifesto, Luigi Mangione is appearing to take responsibility for the murder, according to a senior law enforcement official who saw the document. And he notes UnitedHealthcare's market capitalization growing and condemns companies like UnitedHealthcare that, quote, continue to abuse our country for immense profit.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
Also, in a pretty haunting part of the document, he says, quote, these parasites had it coming, end quote. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
We don't know if he had a personal experience with the insurance company, but we do know that he had been in regular contact with his friends and his family until about six months ago. That's when he suddenly stopped communicating with them. And his friends have told us that he had been suffering from a painful back injury at the time.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
And that's when communication went dark and his relatives and friends began to become very anxious about him. Why hadn't anyone heard from him?
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
The other thing we know is that in the last year, he had been writing many reviews on Goodreads, specifically one about a book that was written by Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber who mailed bombs to people that he felt were destroying the world with technology. Ted Kaczynski killed three people and he was seen, he was a terrorist.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
But in his review, Mr. Mangione describes him as a mathematics prodigy. and he tells readers not to dismiss the book as the manifesto of a lunatic.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
He praises him by saying that many of his predictions about modern society turned out to be true, so he was prescient, and he specifically says that while he was a violent individual, rightfully imprisoned for killing and maiming people, these actions, and this is a direct quote, while these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy Luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary."
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So there's admiration in that review of a man who did terribly violent things.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
At this point, that is a theory that many people hold, but we really don't know what happened to Luigi Mangione.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
So just a few minutes ago, Luigi Mangione arrived at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He was led out of the car by two officers who walked him in, his hands bound behind his back. And there was a huge media presence there. Here he is being brought into a courthouse, not to face murder charges, but to face charges. Gun charges. He's there for a preliminary arraignment.
The Daily
The Manhunt, the Manifesto and the Murder Charge
And then what's going to happen is prosecutors there will decide whether they want to carry out these charges against him in Pennsylvania or if he can be extradited to New York for presumably potentially murder charges for the killing of Brian Thompson.