Luigi Mangione charged with murder of healthcare CEO
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday that Luigi Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last month.
Mr. Mangione has been convicted of one count of first-degree murder as well as two counts of second-degree murder, one of which charges the killing as a form of “terrorism,” Bragg said.
In announcing the charges, Bragg described the shooting as a “horrific, planned and targeted murder.”
Mr Mangione is scheduled to appear for a court hearing on December 19 to hear whether he will be extradited to New York on the charges, according to the BBC’s media partner CBS News.
The extradition proceedings will take place on the same day he sits down for preliminary proceedings on gun-related charges in Pennsylvania.
Police said Mr. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a so-called “ghost gun” and a fake ID, five days after he allegedly shot and killed healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4.
His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, has said he plans to fight extradition and says he has seen no evidence that links Mr. Mangione’s gun to the crime.
New York prosecutors last week began sharing evidence in their case against Mr. Mangione with the grand jury.
According to CBS News, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has suggested that Mr. Mangione could waive extradition, meaning his arrival in New York would be imminent.
If extradited, the 26-year-old would likely be held at Riker’s Island or another New York prison.
The evidence against Mr. Mangione included a positive mail NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has stated that there is a mismatch between his fingerprints and those found at the crime scene.
In addition to the ghost gun – a gun made from inaccessible parts – and the fake ID, police said they also found a passport and a handwritten document that indicated the “motivation and mindset” possessed by Mr. Mangione during his arrest.
He was formally charged in Pennsylvania with counterfeiting, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, possession of instruments of crime and providing false identification to police.
While Mr. Mangione awaits his fate in the New York court system, he remains under maximum security at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
He has been refused bail.
