Luigi Mangioni: Brian Thompson’s alleged killer’s fingerprints reportedly match crime scene discovery

US media is reporting that police say fingerprints found at the murder scene of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson match those of accused killer Luigi Mangioni.

If correct, it would serve as a vital forensic link for prosecutors after the health insurance boss was shot dead on a New York City street.

Mr Mangione was arrested in Altoona at a McDonald’s restaurant after a near week-long search for a hooded and masked suspect.

He was recognised by customers and staff who alerted police, leading to his arrest.

Mr Mangione is currently being held in Pennsylvania, where he has been charged with the alleged murder of Mr Thompson, as well as unrelated gun charges.

The alleged killer, who has taken the internet by storm, was seen screaming outside a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday.

“Completely out of touch. It’s an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” Mr Mangione screamed.

He was wearing an orange jail uniform as officers swept him into the court.

At the court hearing, his defence lawyer told a judge that Mr Mangione would oppose extradition to New York, where he is charged with murder and other crimes.

That decision could delay the process by weeks but is unlikely to block his eventual transfer and, for now, Mr Mangione will remain in jail in Pennsylvania.

His lawyer, Tom Dickey, said at a news conference that Mangione planned to plead not guilty to the charges.

More clues about his possible motivation continue coming to light.

When arrested, Mr Mangione was in possession of a handwritten manifesto that offered insight into his mindset, according to police.

The New York Times reported that an internal New York City Police report analysing the document concluded that Mr Mangione viewed the killing as a justified response to what he believed to be corruption in the healthcare industry.

“These parasites simply had it coming,” the manifesto said, according to the Times.

Mr Mangione suffered from chronic back pain that limited his daily life, according to friends, his social media postings and other news reports.

His profile on X shows a background image of an X-ray with what appears to be screws and plates inserted in a lower back.

From January through June 2022, Mr Mangione lived at the Surfbreak co-living community in Honolulu, where he led a book club and surfed, hiked and rock-climbed, the founder of the group, R.J. Martin, told the Hawaiian outlet Civil Beat.

Mr Martin said Mr Mangione had suffered back pain caused by misaligned vertebrae pinching Mr Mangione’s spinal cord, and he left for the mainland at some point for surgery.

But he went “radio silent” in June or July, Martin told Civil Beat.

Mr Mangione never showed any indication of violence, Mr Martin later told MSNBC.

“The Luigi that I knew is completely incompatible with an assassin,” he said, describing him as funny, kind and thoughtful.

At one point, Mr Mangione suggested Surfbreak’s book club read the manifesto of Ted Kaczynski - the US domestic bomber known as the Unabomber - as a joke, according to Martin.

Mr Mangione was spotted at a McDonald’s on Monday by an employee who thought he looked like the gunman in surveillance images released by police.

Mr Mangione, an Ivy League graduate who was also the valedictorian of a private all-boys school in Maryland, had a loaded ghost gun - an untraceable firearm assembled from parts - and a silencer, officials said on Monday.

He also had multiple fake identifications, including a fraudulent New Jersey ID that matched the one used by the gunman to check into a Manhattan hostel days before the shooting, according to authorities.

Mr Mangione’s family released a statement saying they knew only what had been reported in the media.

“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” the family said in a statement posted to the X account of Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione.

“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”

The gunman managed to elude capture for days after the attack last Wednesday outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Mr Thompson’s murder unleashed a wave of frustration from Americans struggling to afford medical care and those who have been denied claims or care.

Mr Thompson, a father of two, had been chief executive of UnitedHealthcare since April 2021, part of a 20-year career with the company. He had been in New York to attend the company’s annual investor conference.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that the administration “condemn violence in the strongest term.”

“We are certainly tracking the latest regarding this deadly shooting,” she said.

“We are grateful to law enforcement for apprehending the suspect, and we stand ready to provide further support if needed. And so while we’re certainly not going to comment on the investigation, we condemn, we condemn violence in the strongest term.”

- With Reuters