Published On 10 Dec 2024
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a Midtown Manhattan attack last week, has signalled he will fight being extradited to New York to face murder charges.
Mangione appeared in court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a day after he was arrested in the town of Altoona following a tip from a McDonald’s employee. He was charged with Thompson’s New York killing hours after his arrest, as well as a slate of lesser offences in Pennsylvania.
Emerging from a police car, Mangione gave a partly unintelligible message to reporters, although he made reference to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people”.
At the brief hearing, his defence lawyer, Thomas Dickey, told the court that Mangione would contest extradition to New York, requesting a hearing on the issue. He has 14 days to lodge a formal challenge to being relocated to New York, and in the meantime, he will be held in Pennsylvania without bail.
While in court, Mangione wore an orange prison jumpsuit, alternating between staring forward, looking at papers and looking back at the gallery. He was quieted at one point by his lawyer when he attempted to speak.
The court appearance came six days after a gunman fatally shot Thompson, the head of one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States, outside of a hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
The brazen nature of the attack – and the days-long manhunt – garnered national intrigue. Even while condemning the violence, many experts, doctors and US citizens said it was emblematic of the undercurrent of anger in the country towards the healthcare industry, where high costs leave many patients vulnerable to the will of insurers.
Bullet casings found at the scene of the killing bore the words “deny”, “defend” and “depose”, appearing to reference a phrase used by critics to describe how health insurers avoid claim payouts. The gunman fled via electric bike to Central Park, and later, he boarded a bus out of the city.
In the days since the attack, many have taken to social media to share acco