Luigi Mangione, Person Of Interest In CEO's Killing, Has Philly Ties

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania man who authorities named as a suspect in the deadly shooting of a health insurance company CEO had ties to Philadelphia.

Luigi Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland, is considered a person of interest in last week's slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.

According to Mangione's personal Facebook page, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. His social media account did not say what years he attended the school.

A university spokesperson confirmed Mangione earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a computer science major and mathematics minor, as well as a Master of Science in Engineering with a major in computer and information science, on May 18, 2020.

Mangione was arrested on charges tied to a gun in Altoona. The weapon is a ghost gun, an untraceable homemade weapon, and is similar to the one used in Thompson's killing.

Joseph Kenny, New York City police chief of detectives, said the gun could fire a 9 mm bullet and may have been made with a 3-D printer, The New York Times reported. Kenny also said Mangione had a silencer in his possession.

According to NBC10, Mangione may have traveled to Altoona by bus from Philadelphia.

Mangione got off of a Greyhound bus traveling through Altoona Monday morning and entered a McDonald's at around 9:15 a.m., where he was recognized from the images of the suspect circulated by authorities.

Police responding to the McDonald's discovered Mangione had fake IDs, including one the gunman used to check into a New York hostel before the shooting. He also was found to have a handwritten document criticizing health care companies.

A masked gunman shot Thompson at point-blank range Wednesday outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where United Healthcare was holding an investors conference.

Surveillance videos show the killer shot Thompson at around 6:45 a.m. before fleeing on foot and then on a bike into Central Park. Authorities believe he left New York City on an interstate bus.

Although police have not disclosed a possible motive for the killing, shell casings found at the crime scene had the words "deny," "delay" and "depose" written on them. The slaying has triggered intense discussion and criticism of the American health insurance industry.