Last week, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in Manhattan. A five-day search for the gunman ensued.On Monday, a 26-year-old suspect, Luigi Mangione, was arrested in Pennsylvania after an employee at a McDonald’s recognized him and called the police.Dionne Searcey, who covers wealth and corporations, and Maria Cramer, a crime reporter in New York City, break down what we know about the suspect, and what the case has revealed about many Americans’ contempt for insurance companies.Guest: Dionne Searcey, a reporter for The New York Times writing about how the choices made by people and corporations affect the future of our planet.Maria Cramer, a reporter for The New York Times covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas.Background reading: The suspect was an Ivy League tech graduate from a prominent Maryland family who in recent months had suffered physical and psychological pain.A visual timeline of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. shooting.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Chapter 1: What happened to the UnitedHealthcare CEO?
On Wednesday morning of last week, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, left his hotel in midtown Manhattan for his company's investor conference a few blocks away.
It was 6.45 in the morning, still mostly dark out, and as Thompson neared his destination, a hooded and masked gunman emerged from behind a parked car, took out a gun with a silencer, and began to fire at him over and over in what's clearly a targeted attack.
Chilling new details tonight following what police say was the premeditated murder of the CEO of United Healthcare on the busy streets of midtown Manhattan early today.
Surveillance videos of all of this, which emerged a few hours later, shocked the city.
It was so surreal. It's something that you would watch on a TV show or in a movie, this like in-cold-blood assassination two blocks away from my house.
What I heard was that he ran up 6th Avenue and into the park. And so, you know, that would be like right here.
And just as shocking was how effortlessly Thompson's killer got away.
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.
By the end of the day, a massive citywide manhunt was underway. Cops literally fan out across Central Park. Hotel rooms are being searched. Drones are put in the air.
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Chapter 2: Who is the suspect in the shooting?
It's 5.45 or so on Monday night. And I want you to tell us, based on what you know now, how this suspect was caught and how this manhunt came to what looks like its end. And then we'll get to what we're learning about who the suspect is and what truly motivated him. But let's just start with how he gets caught.
So what we learn from our police sources and from a news conference where the police address the media... Good afternoon, everyone.
Earlier this morning in Altoona, Pennsylvania... ...on Monday morning at 9.14 at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania... The suspect was in a McDonald's and was recognized by an employee... You have an employee who notices a man eating in the restaurant, and that employee recognizes...
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.
He calls the Altoona Police Department. Responding officers question the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying... They find a man sitting at a table, looking at a laptop and wearing a blue medical mask.
and when an officer asks him to pull down his mask and asks if he's been to new york recently the man becomes quiet and starts to shake upon further investigation officers recovered a firearm on his person as well as a suppressor both consistent with the weapon used in the murder eventually they search him and they find
Also recovered was a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID our suspect used to check into his New York City hostel before the shooting incident.
Pretty distinct pieces of evidence, especially the gun and the silencer, that suggest this is most likely their guy.
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.
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