Luigi Mangione was arrested on Monday in connection with last Wednesday's killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a sidewalk in midtown Manhattan. The 26-year-old Ivy League grad was charged late Monday with Thompson's murder in Manhattan, while also facing gun and other charges in Pennsylvania related to his arrest Monday morning in Altoona, Pa.
While the suspect in Thompson’s killing is being held without bail, there are still many unanswered questions that remain in the case.
How long was Mangione allegedly planning the attack and what was his motive?
The NYPD said during a news conference last Wednesday that Thompson was targeted in a "premeditated, preplanned targeted attack." Mangione inexplicably cut off regular communication with his family and friends about six months ago, causing them to leave anxious inquiries regarding his whereabouts, the New York Times reported.
When Mangione was taken into custody in Altoona on Monday, police said he had a three-page handwritten document in his possession that revealed his potential motivation for the attack on Thompson.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters Monday that there did not appear to be "any specific threats" or names mentioned in that document, but that "it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America.”
An internal intelligence report from the NYPD said the alleged shooter could have seen himself as some sort of hero against corporate greed.
"He appeared to view the targeted killing of the company's highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and 'power games,' asserting in his note he is the 'first to face it with such brutal honesty,'" the report said, according to multiplenews outlets.
Did Mangione have an accomplice?
Surveillance video showed the suspect walking down a street approximately 15 minutes before the shooting. He appears to be talking on a cellphone, which raises several questions, including who he might have been talking with or whether he might have been listening to a voicemail.
The gunman arrived outside the New York Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan about five minutes before Thompson walked down the street. How did the gunman know Thompson was going to be soon walking down the street?
What was Mangione doing after he left NYC?
Following Wednesday’s shooting, the suspected gunman headed north on foot before getting on a bicycle and riding toward Central Park, where police found the distinctive backpack worn by the suspect.
The NYPD told reporters Friday that after reviewing security footage, they discovered the shooter then took a taxi to the Port Authority Bus Terminal near the George Washington Bridge. Kenny said video footage shows the gunman entering the bus terminal but not exiting, which led the NYPD to believe that he got on a bus and was no longer in New York City.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a Monday news conference that the suspect traveled between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and made stops in between, which included the McDonald’s in Altoona.
That means the suspected gunman left New York City last Wednesday and was apprehended on Monday, leaving four days in between. What was he doing during that time, where did he stay and was he in contact with anyone?
Did any of Mangione's family or friends contact the NYPD following the release of images of the suspect?
Last Wednesday, the NYPD first released pictures of who they called a "person of interest wanted for questioning." The person in the photos wore a face mask as he stood at a Starbucks in midtown Manhattan.
On Thursday, police released more photos, this time of the "person of interest" without a face mask as he was checking into a hostel in Manhattan's Upper West Side. The man is wearing a hooded sweatshirt and is seen smiling as he flirts with a female employee at a hostel, police sources told multiplenews outlets. Upon checking him in, she allegedly asked to see his smile and he obliged by lowering his face mask.
Did Mangione's family or friends see those photos of his exposed face and contact the NYPD? They were under no legal obligation to do so, the New York Times reports.
“There’s no legal duty to report,” Rachel Barkow, a professor at New York University School of Law, told the New York Times. “That’s why they offer rewards, to try to entice people to do it.”
The FBI posted a $50,000 reward, while the NYPD offered a $10,000 reward last week for any information on the killing of Thompson.
Was Mangione a UnitedHealthcare customer?
We know that Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare and was targeted in the attack. Investigators have been examining evidence, including bullet casings that, according to the Associated Press, had the words delay, deny and depose written on them. Police are working to determine whether the words, which echo the title of the bestselling 2010 book Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It, may be a clue in unlocking the suspect's motive. Those words are also similar to the phrase "delay, deny, defend" used by health care insurance critics to describe services regarding payment claims.
One of Mangione's friends in Hawaii told the New York Times that Mangione complained of chronic back pain and had undergone surgery in recent years. But it's still unknown if Mangione was a customer of UnitedHealthcare.