On December 4, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot outside his Manhattan hotel, sparking controversy and national news coverage. People were immediately interested in the bizarre nature of the case.
After shooting Thompson, the suspect fled the scene right away, leading to a nationwide manhunt with a $60,000 reward being offered by multiple organizations to catch the shooter.
When fleeing the scene, the suspect fled to Central Park then got in a taxi. He is believed to have already left to a different state.
While the suspect was being searched for, a possible motive was being pieced together online. Three bullets were recovered at the scene of the shooting, each bullet contained one of the three words: “Delay”, “Deny”, and “Depose”.
These three words are words commonly used when denying healthcare insurance claims. This led many to speculate that the suspect did this because he was frustrated with the healthcare system in the United States, especially since Thompson was known to get rich off of this system.
The situation got even more bizarre when, after the shooting, a yellow balloon flew with paper taped on it with a smiling star, confetti, and the words “CEO DOWN”. This further led people to believe this was a preplanned attack.
In Central Park, a backpack was found, believed to be from the shooter. Inside it was filled with printed money from Monopoly, a game famously having to do with capitalism.
Opinions on the shooter online were split, with most hailing the shooter as a hero, but many also believed that he was not justified in killing Thompson.
People online saw him as a hero justified in killing someone who made millions profiting off the broken healthcare system. United Healthcare was known for having denied more insurance claims than any other company, leading people to be unable to get the funding for the care they desperately needed.
However, a large portion of people also believed that it was never okay to kill someone in response to grievances in a system. Some believed that Thompson was simply doing his job.
On December 9, a worker at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania called the police, reporting a male that matched the suspect of the shooter.
When police responded to the scene, they asked the male if he had been to New York City recently, which made him visibly nervous.
He was immediately taken into custody and on him, the police found several fake IDs, a ghost gun (a gun that’s untraceable), and a written three-page manifesto.
The shooter was finally identified as Luigi Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and computer science graduate. He was valedictorian of his high school and comes from a rich family.
Many people who knew Mangione came out and had only positive things to say about him, describing him as a kind and smart person.
Shortly after his name was released to the public, people discovered accounts belonging to Mangione such as his X (formerly known as Twitter), and GoodReads. With this people further began to try and piece together a motive
On both his X and GoodReads, he alluded to the fact that he suffered from back problems, which led people to believe it made him discontent with healthcare in the United States.
Another theory was that he lost both his grandmother and grandfather to illnesses, which led him to be frustrated with the current healthcare system.
When being dragged into court on December 10, Mangione yelled, “It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience.”
Currently, Mangione is claiming that he has nothing to do with the killing.