Luigi Mangione, suspect in fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, may have spiraled after ‘traumatic’ back surgery: reports
The suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s slaying was reported missing by his family last month after he lost touch with them following a recent back surgery, according to sources and reports.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s by an employee of the fast food restaurant who believed he resembled the gunman wanted over last week’s brazen shooting outside a Manhattan hotel.
Mangione — an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family — was found carrying a ghost gun, masks and rambling writings linking him to the ambush, authorities said.
As investigators continue to piece together a possible motive for the cold-blooded killing, it has since emerged that Mangione had lost touch with loved ones in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Mangione’s mother reported him missing Nov. 18 — possibly from a home in San Francisco, law enforcement sources told The Post.
The suspect, who was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu, according to cops.
Meanwhile, one of his former classmates at the Gilman School in Baltimore told the New York Times that Mangione’s peers were forwarded a message earlier this year because the suspect’s family was trying to find him.
The classmate, Aaron Cranston, said the message indicated Mangione hadn’t been in touch with relatives since undergoing back surgery several months prior, the outlet reported.
Meanwhile, RJ Martin, a friend and former roommate in Hawaii, told CNN that Mangione had previously spoken of his back issues.
“When I first interviewed him, before he moved in, I remember he said he had a back issue, and he was hoping to get stronger in Hawaii,” Martin said.
The roommate said Mangione’s back issues were so “traumatic and difficult” that one basic surfing lesson left him bedridden for a week.
When he underwent surgery, Martin said, his friend sent him images of the X-rays.
“It looked heinous, with just giant screws going into his spine,” he said.
It comes as sources said Mangione may have held a grudge against the UnitedHealthcare executive because of his interactions with the medical industry — pointing to an X-ray photo on his X account showing four pins in a spine.
Mangione also had five books involving chronic back pain on his reading list on his Goodreads account.
They included titles such as “Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery’’ and “Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease ― and How to Fight It.’’
They were added to his virtual bookshelf between May 2022 and February 2023.
The developments came as Mangione was arraigned and ordered held without bail during a brief court hearing Monday night.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.
- Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice.
- Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband had been getting threats before he was killed.
- Thompson’s shooting led to sick support online, and even spurred a tasteless lookalike competition in NYC.
- A person of interest has been nabbed by police officers inside a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, originally from Towson, Md. He’s a former Ivy League student who hated the medical community.
Follow along with The Post’s live updates on the news surrounding Brian Thompson’s murder.
He was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.
Authorities said they expected murder charges to be filed in New York in the coming days.
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a Midtown hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, cops said
