There isn’t any indication the person charged with killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was ever a shopper of the medical insurer and will have focused it due to its measurement and affect, a senior police official mentioned on Thursday.
Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York police division, informed NBC New York in an interview on Thursday that investigators had uncovered proof that Luigi Mangione had prior information UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor convention in New York Metropolis.
Mangione additionally talked about the corporate in a notice present in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania.
“We now have no indication that he was ever a shopper of UnitedHealthcare, however he does make point out that it’s the fifth-largest company in America, which might make it the biggest healthcare group in America. In order that’s probably why he focused that that firm,” mentioned Kenny.
Mangione stays jailed with out bail in Pennsylvania, the place he was arrested on Monday after being noticed at a McDonald’s within the metropolis of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370km) west of New York Metropolis. His lawyer mentioned he had not seen any proof but linking his shopper to the crime.
Mangione’s arrest got here 5 days after the killing of Thompson outdoors a Manhattan lodge was caught on digicam.
Police say the shooter waited outdoors the lodge, the place United Healthcare was holding its investor convention, early on the morning of 4 December. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him earlier than fleeing on a bicycle by Central Park, then heading to a bus depot.
Mangione is combating makes an attempt to extradite him again to New York in order that he can face a homicide cost in Thompson’s killing. A listening to has been scheduled for 30 December.
The 26-year-old, whom police say was discovered with a “ghost gun” matching shell casings discovered on the website of the taking pictures, has been charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and offering false identification to police. His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, mentioned his shopper will not be responsible.
Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a distinguished Maryland actual property household. On Wednesday, police mentioned investigators are wanting into an accident that injured Mangione’s again and despatched him to an emergency room in July 2023. They’re additionally his writings in regards to the harm and his criticism of company America and the US healthcare system.
Kenny mentioned within the NBC interview that Mangione’s household had reported him lacking to San Francisco authorities in November.
Related Press contributed to this story
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