by Misty Severi
Luigi Mangione, the person of interest who has been arrested on gun charges and held in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, appeared in court in Pennsylvania on Monday night for a preliminary arraignment.
Mangione, who has no prior arrests on his record, appeared in person at a court in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, at 6 p.m. Eastern. He faces two felony charges, one of forgery and one of carrying a firearm without a license, and three misdemeanor charges, for tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of a crime, and false identification to law enforcement authorities, per CNN. He has not yet entered a plea on any charges.
He was ordered held without bail.
New York City authorities on Monday afternoon publicly identified Mangione as a suspect in the case, which occurred in Manhattan last week. He was arrested on Monday afternoon in Pennsylvania, and will be facing gun charges, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
“Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder.”
NYPD officials said they have also “recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both [Mangione’s] motivation and mindset.”
Mangione, who is 26-years-old, was reportedly valedictorian of his 2016 high school graduating class at the Gilman School in Baltimore and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), Computer and Information Science.
He also comes from a prominent Maryland family, according to the Associated Press, and one of his cousins is a Republican Maryland state legislator named Nino Mangione. Luigi Mangione is registered to vote as unaffiliated with a political party, per CNN. He is one of 37 grandchildren of Nick Mangione Sr., who became a millionaire real estate developer and philanthropist.
The Mangione family also owns Lorien Health Systems, a nursing home chain in Maryland, according to CNN.
The UnitedHealth group thanked law enforcement in a statement on Mangione’s arrest on Monday afternoon, and vowed to continue helping with the ongoing investigation and case.
“Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group told the AP. “We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn.”
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Misty Severi is a reporter for Just the News.
