date_range
Wednesday 18 Dec 2024
LOCAL EDITION
close
LOCAL EDITION
Luigi Mangione attends an extradition hearing at Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo/Reuters)
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting dead UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street this month, has been indicted for murder, prosecutors said.
"This type of premeditated, targeted gun violence cannot and will not be tolerated," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement announcing the indictment on Tuesday.
Ivy League-educated Mangione was charged with murder on Dec. 9 for the killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference, following a five-day manhunt.
Mangione suffered from chronic back pain that affected his daily life, according to friends and social media posts, though it is unclear whether his personal health played a role in the shooting.
Mangione was charged with murder in the first and second degrees as well as counts related to criminal possession of a weapon, prosecutors said.
Sensational murder story
In a New York Times opinion piece on Friday, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said he understood public frustrations with the "flawed" US healthcare system, but mourned Thompson's killing and decried the "vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats."
In some circles, Mangione has been celebrated and more than a thousand donations have poured into an online fundraiser for his legal defense.
"It's representing a widespread anger that is felt by people in the middle class, in the working class and people who are well-to-do who also have trouble with their insurance company," said Pepper Culpepper, a professor of government and public policy at Oxford University.
___
Source: TRT
