Prosecutors in Manhattan have begun presenting evidence against Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, to a grand jury, multiple news outlets reported, citing unnamed police sources.
Prosecutors were attempting to secure an indictment, which would strengthen their case for extradition to New York, according to ABC News and CBS News.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Mangione remained in a prison in Pennsylvania as investigators gathered more evidence and authorities in New York vowed to extradite the 26-year-old to face multiple charges, including second-degree murder. Mangione’s lawyer, Thomas Dickey, told reporters he will oppose extradition and his client intends to plead not guilty to all the charges.
Earlier this week, the commissioner of the New York Police Department said Mangione’s fingerprints matched those at the scene of the shooting and the gun police in Pennsylvania found when they arrested him matched the shell casings in front of the Hilton hotel where Thompson was shot and killed.
Dickey said he would like to see the evidence so he can have it analyzed and then “challenge its admissibility and challenge the accuracy of those results.”
Luigi Mangione was not a UnitedHealthcare client, NYPD official says
In the days since Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, investigators have attempted to identify a clear motive in the attack.
While the alleged gunman complained to friends and wrote online about debilitating back pain, it does not appear he was insured by UnitedHealthcare, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York on Thursday.
“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that’s possibly why he targeted that company,” Kenny told the news outlet.
Kenny told the network Mangione seems to have endured an accident that caused him a “life-changing injury” requiring emergency care in July 2023, ”and that’s what may have put him on this path.”
Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY
2024-12-13 12:39:18
