Featured Image Credit: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Topics: Crime, US News, Luigi Mangione, New York
Joe Harker
Topics: Crime, US News, Luigi Mangione, New York
Police have charged a man with the murder of American health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, and as the suspect was led into a court, he was caught on camera shouting a message.
26-year-old Luigi Mangione has been charged with one count of murder, along with charges for possessing an unlicensed firearm, forgery and giving the police false identification.
As he was taken into Blair County Courthouse, Pennsylvania, today (10 December), he was filmed shouting a message to the press which were waiting outside, where he said, as per Sky News: "It's completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience."
He shouted this message as he was being led from a car into the court by numerous police officers, and he was forced inside before he could finish speaking.
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The murder which Mangione has been charged with involved a shooter who'd fired bullets with the words 'deny, defend, depose' written on the casings.
A backpack thought to belong to the shooter was later discovered and inside it there was some money from the board game Monopoly.
The suspected shooter was also found in possession of some written documents when he was arrested, including a supposed 'manifesto' which outlined some grievances against the American health insurance system.
The document reportedly opened with the line: "To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone."
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It then went on to slam companies that 'continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it', and declared that 'these parasites had it coming' before apologising 'for any strife and trauma'.
Mangione was later arrested near a McDonald's in Pennsylvania, with New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch saying: "The suspect was in a McDonald's and was recognised by an employee who then called local police.
"Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a US passport.
"Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person, as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder.
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"They also recovered clothing, including a mask, consistent with those worn by our wanted individual.
"Additionally, officers recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset."
The murder that the 26-year-old has been charged with was carried out in the early hours of last Wednesday (4 December) when Brian Thompson was shot dead as he left his hotel in New York City.
The shooter then appeared to escape the scene of the crime on foot before getting on a bike and riding it into Central Park.