ALTOONA, Pa. (KDKA) — Luigi Mangione, the man being questioned in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was arraigned on several unrelated charges after he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
According to court documents, Mangione is charged with forgery, firearms not to be carried without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of crime and false identification to law enforcement authorities after police in Altoona said they were called to a McDonald’s around 9 a.m. for reports of a person matching the description of the possible suspect in Thompson’s shooting.
Court documents describe moment police recognized Mangione
According to court paperwork, when Altoona officers got to the McDonald’s on East Plank Road, they found the man wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop at a table in the back of the restaurant. After asking him to pull down his mask, officers in court documents wrote that they “immediately recognized” him from photos New York police had released.
When they asked for ID, police said he gave them a New Jersey driver’s license. Officers said he “became quiet and started to shake” after they asked him if he’d been to New York recently.
Investigators said they couldn’t find any information with the ID the man had given him. Officers told him that if he lied about his identity, he’d get arrested. That’s when police said he gave them his birthday and told them his name was Luigi Mangione.
When asked why he lied about his identity, Mangione replied, “I clearly shouldn’t have.”
Here’s what police found in Mangione’s backpack
Police said they arrested Mangione and took him back to the Altoona station, where a search of his backpack turned up a 3D-printed pistol and silencer.
“The pistol had a metal slide and a plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel,” police wrote in court paperwork. “The pistol had one loaded Glock magazine with six nine-millimeter full metal jacket rounds. There was also one loose nine-millimeter hollow point round. The silencer was also 3D printed.”
Police question Mangione in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s death
In their search, police said they also found a three-page handwritten document.
“That document is currently in the possession of the Altoona Police Department as part of their investigation, but just from briefly speaking with them, we don’t think that there’s any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America,” said New York Police Department chief of detectives Joseph Kenny.
The NYPD could be seen outside the Altoona Police Department on Monday. Police are questioning Mangione in connection with Thompson’s death.
“At this time, he is believed to be our person of interest in the brazen, targeted murder of Brian Thompson,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “The suspect was in a McDonald’s and then recognized by an employee who then called police. Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a U.S. passport.”
Police in Altoona, which is about 2 hours from Pittsburgh, said they’re cooperating with local, state and federal agencies.
Magnione was ordered to be held without bail, the Associated Press reported.
