Luigi Mangione charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson
Luigi Nicholas Mangione has been charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson.
Police arrested Mangione on Monday after a McDonald’s employee in Pennsylvania alerted authorities to a customer, who was found with a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush.
The 26-year-old, who was charged earlier in Altoona with weapons, forgery and other charges, will now be extradited to New York.
The chance sighting at the restaurant led to a dramatic break in the fast-moving investigation.
Officer Tyler Frye, who has only been on the job for about six months, and a fellow officer responded to the McDonald’s where the suspect was spotted.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione in custody. Pic: Altoona Police Department
They asked him to pull his blue medical mask down and “recognised him immediately”.
Officer Frye said: “We didn’t even think twice about it, we knew that was our guy.
“It feels good to get a guy like that off the street, especially starting my career this way, it feels great.”
Brian Thompson shooting – what we know
Court documents said Mangione began shaking when the officers asked if he had been in New York recently.
Governor Josh Shapiro said that “in some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero”.
“Hear me on this, he is no hero,” the Democrat added.
“The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”
Luigi Nicholas Mangione arrives at court in Pennsylvania Pic: NBC
NYPD chief of detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and has a last known address in Honolulu.
Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America”, Mr Kenny said.
Following the arrest, his family released a statement that said: “Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione.
“We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.
“We are devastated by this news.”
Mr Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference.
Footage showed the attacker walking up slowly behind Mr Thompson and opening fire outside the Hilton hotel in what has been described as a “premeditated, preplanned targeted attack”.
Shell casings found at the scene where the executive was killed had “deny”, “delay”, and “depose” written on them.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Trump and Putin’s latest call on Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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