ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) 鈥� A man suspected in the brazen Manhattan was arrested and charged with murder Monday after a quick-thinking McDonald鈥檚 customer in Pennsylvania recognized him from a surveillance photo and police officers found a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush.
The chance sighting at the restaurant in Altoona led to a dramatic break in a challenging but fast-moving investigation that captivated the public in the five days since the shooting that shook the business world.
, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, had a gun believed to be the one used in last Wednesday鈥檚 shooting of , as well as writings suggesting anger with corporate America, police said.
Late Monday, Manhattan prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Mangione, according to an online court docket. He remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.
Mangione was sitting in the rear of the McDonald's wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop computer, court documents said. A customer saw him and an employee called 911, said Kaz Daughtry, an NYPD deputy commissioner.
Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye said he and his partner recognized the suspect immediately when he pulled down his mask. 鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 think twice about it. We knew that was our guy,鈥� he said.
When one of the officers asked if he鈥檇 been to New York recently, he 鈥渂ecame quiet and started to shake," according to a criminal complaint based on their accounts of the arrest.
In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed pistol and a 3D-printed black silencer, the complaint said. Such can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace. The pistol had a metal slide and plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel.
He was taken into custody at about 9:15 a.m., police said.
Mangione had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu.
鈥淥ur family is shocked and devastated by Luigi鈥檚 arrest,鈥� Mangione's family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione. 鈥淲e offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved."
Mangione was arraigned and ordered held without bail during a brief court hearing. Asked if he needed a public defender, he asked if he could 鈥渁nswer that at a future date.鈥� He eventually will be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson鈥檚 death, Kenny said.
Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had 鈥渋ll will toward corporate America,鈥� Kenny said.
The handwritten document 鈥渟peaks to both his motivation and mindset,鈥� Tisch said.
A law enforcement official who wasn鈥檛 authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone.
鈥淭o the Feds, I鈥檒l keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn鈥檛 working with anyone,鈥� the document said, according to the official.
It also had a line that said, 鈥淚 do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.鈥�
Mangione also had a passport and $10,000 in cash 鈥� $2,000 of it in foreign currency, authorities said. Mangione, who said Hawaii was his most recent address, disputed the amount.
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a hotel, where UnitedHealthcare鈥檚 parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
UnitedHealth Group thanked law enforcement in a statement. 鈥淥ur hope is that today鈥檚 apprehension brings some relief to Brian鈥檚 family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,鈥� a company spokesperson said.
The shooting shook U.S. businesses and the health insurance industry in particular, causing companies to rethink and delete photos of executives from their websites.
Mangione attended an elite Baltimore prep school, graduating as valedictorian in 2016, according to the school鈥檚 website. He went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a school spokesperson said.
One of his cousins is a Maryland state legislator and his family bought a country club north of Baltimore in the 1980s. On Monday, police blocked off an entrance to the property, which public records link to the suspect's parents. A swarm of reporters and photographers gathered outside.
Mangione went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh after the shooting, and likely 鈥渨as in a variety of locations across the state,鈥� said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said.
鈥淏ased on everything we have seen, he was very careful with trying to stay low profile, avoid cameras 鈥� not all that successfully in some cases, but that was certainly the effort he was making,鈥� Bivens said.
In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of nine photos and video 鈥� including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.
Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan鈥檚 Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.
On Monday, police credited news outlets for disseminating the images and the tipster for recognizing the suspect and calling authorities.
Investigators earlier suggested the gunman may have been a disgruntled employee or client of the insurer. Ammunition found near Thompson鈥檚 body 鈥渄elay,鈥� 鈥渄eny鈥� and 鈥渄epose,鈥� mimicking a phrase used by .
The gunman concealed his identity with a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence, including a he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza and a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that police say he bought at Starbucks minutes before the attack.
On Friday, police said the killer had left the city soon after the shooting. using surveillance video, investigators say the shooter rode into Central Park on a bicycle and emerged from the park without his backpack. He made his way to a bus station that offers commuter service to New Jersey and routes to the East Coast, police said.
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Sisak and Attanasio reported from New York. Associated Press writers Michael Rubinkam and Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania; Lea Skene, in Baltimore; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Michael R. Sisak, Mark Scolforo And Cedar Attanasio, The Associated Press
