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Műrder suspect, Luigi Mangione allegedly considered b0mbing Manhattan as he planned out his attack on UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione, 26, appeared in court on Tuesday, December 10, fighting against extradition to New York, where he is charged with second-degree műrder after Thompson, 50, was sl@in.
The former Ivy League student was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday, with a 3D-printed pistol and black silencer, as well as a manifesto condemning the American healthcare system.
Mangione also had a spiral notebook in which he wrote a ‘to-do list,’ ahead of the grizzly sho0ting, CNN reported.
In it, he allegedly contemplated using a bomb to kill Thompson, but he decided against the prospect because it ‘could kill innocents,’ and determined a shooting would be more targeted.
He also reportedly indicated that it couldn’t get any better than ‘to k!ll the CEO at his own bean-counting conference,’ as Thompson was set to disclose the financial gains the company made this year.
Journalist Shimon Prokupecz reported that ‘law enforcement and certainly investigators’ will view that sentence as a ‘confession.’
Mangione is expected to plead not guilty to both his New York műrder charge and gun possession charges in Pennsylvania, and his lawyer Tom Dickey claimed there’s no evidence to suggest that Mangione is the shooter.
After his appearance in court, where he was denied bail, Dickey spoke to reporters at a press conference to predict Mangione’s pleas.
‘I haven’t seen any evidence that says he’s the shooter,’ defense attorney Dickey said. ‘The fundamental concept of American justice is a presumption of innocence until you’re proven guilty.’
Authorities have said Mangione’s three-page manifesto is being investigated, which they labeled a ‘claim of responsibility.’
The document is a different piece of evidence from notebook – where he flirted with the idea of bombing Midtown to kill the millionaire healthcare boss.
In the manifesto, Mangione allegedly wrote about the grandiose size of UnitedHealthcare and how much profits it makes and went on to condemn health insurance companies more broadly for placing profits over care.
Details about his writing come amid the backdrop of the UPenn graduate’s own experience with the medical world, as he had been struggling after a spinal injury. His elaborate online presence also showed he’d read multiple books on back pain.
‘To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, [and] a lot of patience,’ he allegedly wrote in the manifesto, according to the Daily Beast.
He went on to say he had ‘respect’ for federal investigators, and apologized for causing any ‘traumas,’ but seemed to defend his alleged actions.
‘Frankly, these parasites had it coming,’ the manifesto wrote.
It claimed that the United States had the ‘most expensive healthcare system in the world,’ but blasted the system for making America only the 42nd in life expectancy.
Police said Mangione viewed himself as a ‘hero’ fighting a corrupt health insurance industry, according to the New York Times.
