December 17, 2024, 10:54 PM
December 17, 2024, 10:54 PM
The suspect in the murder of the director of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare was formally charged this Tuesday with first-degree murder, according to the New York district attorney.
Luigi Mangione faces several charges, including first-degree murder, and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which describes the deadly attack on the executive Brian Thompson as an act of “terrorism”detailed prosecutor Alvin Bragg.
“The intention was to sow terror”said the prosecutor, who called the shooting a “terrifying, well-planned and directed murder.”
Mangione is scheduled to appear in court Thursday to decide whether to transfer him from Pennsylvania to New York on the charges against him, although Bragg suggested the suspect might not object.
“We have indications that the defendant may waive that hearing,” Bragg said.
The transfer proceeding is scheduled for the same day as Mangione’s preliminary hearing on firearms charges in Pennsylvania.
Brian Thompson, 50, was shot to death on December 4 outside the Manhattan Hilton hotel, where UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance giant he ran, was holding an investor meeting.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania. five days later. He was carrying a false identification document and a “ghost gun”as weapons assembled from untraceable parts are known.
The accusation
At a press conference held Tuesday afternoon, both Bragg and Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the New York Police Department, spoke about the charges filed.
In addition to Thompson’s death, the suspect also faces charges of weapons possession and forgery. If convicted of the most serious charges, Mangione could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
When asked about the specific charges of terrorism, Bragg responded that “in its most basic terms, it was about a murder that was intended to evoke terror“.
They also lashed out at those who have praised Mangione for his December 4 shooting: “In the nearly two weeks since Mr. Thompson’s murder, we have witnessed a horrific and atrocious celebration of a cold-blooded murder,” Tisch declared.
“We do not celebrate murders and we do not glorify the murder of anyone,” he said.
New York prosecutors last week began showing evidence in their case against Mangione to a jury.
If extradition occurs between states, it is likely that the 26-year-old will be detained in Riker’s Island or in another New York prison.
The evidence against Mangione includes the traces of his fingerprints at the crime sceneTisch said.
Mangione’s attorney, Thomas Dickey, said he has seen no evidence linking his client’s gun to the crime.
Your trail
According to prosecutor Bragg, the suspect arrived in New York on November 24 and stayed at a Manhattan hostel using a fake ID before carrying out the attack on Thompson 10 days later.
In addition to the “ghost gun” and the false identity document, when he was arrested they found a passport and a handwritten document in which it was indicated “motivation and premeditation”according to the police.
Mangione was indicted in Pennsylvania for forgery, carrying firearms without a license, tampering with records or identification documents, possession of instruments of crime and providing false identification to police.
While awaiting his fate, he remains in maximum security at the Huntingdon State Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.
He has been denied bail.
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