Luigi Nicholas Mangione ( ; Alt URL born May 6, 1998) is an American former software engineer known for killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in 2024.
Born and raised in the U.S. state of Maryland, Mangione attended the University of Pennsylvania and became a software engineer. Claiming severe back pain and disillusionment with the U.S. health insurance industry, he is convicted of the stalking and shooting resulting in Thompson's death in Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. Following a nationwide manhunt, he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the shooting. Mangione was indicted on eleven New York state charges and four federal charges, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, criminal possession of a weapon, and stalking. His two state terror-related murder charges were dismissed in September 2025; prosecutors initially sought capital punishment in his federal case until the charges that carried the possibility of the death penalty were dismissed in January 2026. In August 2026, Mangione pleaded guilty to the federal stalking charges and admitted to fatally shooting Thompson.
Since his arrest, Mangione has received significant public attention. According to a 2024 YouGov poll conducted shortly after the arrest, Americans on average were more likely to view Mangione unfavorably than favorably; however, Americans under 30 were more likely to view him favorably than unfavorably. Mangione has drawn international support through graffiti, social media, and local court hearings, transforming him into a folk hero for some of those critical of the U.S. health insurance industry and its claim denial practices.
Early life, education, and career Luigi Nicholas Mangione was born on May 6, 1998, in Towson, Maryland, to Kathleen () and Louis Mangione, a Baltimore-area couple of Italian descent. He has two older sisters. His paternal grandfather, Nicholas Mangione, was a successful Baltimore businessman, with 10 children (five sons and five daughters) and 37 grandchildren; one of his grandchildren being Nino Mangione, a member of the Baltimore County Council.
Mangione attended Gilman School, an all-boys private secondary school in Baltimore, where he participated in sports such as soccer, track, cross country, and wrestling. He developed an interest in video games and video game development, teaching himself how to code, and co-founding an iOS game development company, AppRoar Studios. Mangione graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 2016. His valedictorian speech praised his classmates' achievements, expressed gratitude to teachers and faculty, and thanked parents in attendance for sending him and his classmates to Gilman School, which was "far from a small financial investment". He did not speak about himself.
Mangione attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated cum laude in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in computer engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in computer and information science. His undergraduate studies included a minor in mathematics, and his graduate curriculum concentrated on artificial intelligence. In 2016, Mangione founded UPGRADE (University of Pennsylvania Game Research And Development Environment), the university's first game development club, which aimed to connect artists, programmers, and creatives passionate about video games. In a 2018 interview, Mangione said, "We don't turn people away for not having experience. Passion is what we're looking for." The club grew to include about 60 members and remained active as of January 2026.
While an undergraduate student, Mangione completed a robotics research internship at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, and was a user interface programming intern with Firaxis Games between May 2016 and August 2017, where he worked on the video game Civilization VI. During the summer of 2019, he served as a counselor for Stanford University's artificial intelligence pre-collegiate (high school) studies program in California.
In November 2020, Mangione began working remotely as a data engineer for TrueCar. He left his job at the end of February 2023, sharing with a former classmate that "Data engineering paid super well but was mind-numbingly boring" and that he wanted to "spend more time reading and doing yoga".
Killing of Brian Thompson
Killing
Brian Thompson, CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024. The shooting occurred early in the morning outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown hotel and was captured on video. Thompson was shot in the leg and the back. He was in the city to attend an annual investors' meeting for UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth Group. The suspect, initially described as a white man wearing a mask, fled the scene. The gunman was masked and had come to New York via a bus from Atlanta. The words delay, deny, and depose were written on the spent cases and an ejected cartridge. The three words are similar to "Delay, Deny, Defend", a well-known phrase in the insurance industry alluding to insurance companies' efforts to avoid paying claims. The suspect was seen at a bus terminal after the killing. In a Central Park wooded area, New York police discovered a backpack—supposedly disposed of by the gunman—that contained Monopoly money and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.
Arrest
After a five-day nationwide manhunt, local police arrested Mangione at a McDonald's restaurant on East Plank Road in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024. Police responded to a call an employee made after a customer noticed similarities between Mangione's appearance and images of Thompson's alleged killer released by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Altoona is about west of New York City. Police reported that Mangione was "visibly nervous" when asked if he had recently visited New York City, and during testimony, when asked how he knew that Mangione was nervous, the arresting officer said, "I saw his fingers shaking a little bit."
At approximately 10 a.m., police arrested Mangione for "forgery" and "false identification to law enforcement". He was searched, handcuffed, and transported back to Altoona Police Department's station. His backpack was also searched. After officers found a gun magazine inside the backpack, they decided to take everything back to the police station. Rolling Stone reported that "On the body-worn camera footage, Fox is shown placing a large McDonald's bag full of evidence, including Mangione's laptop, into the trunk of his SUV. Wasser takes the backpack with her." Both officers turned off their body-worn cameras when leaving the McDonald's. There is no video footage for 11 minutes. Wasser testified that she and Fox pulled over on the way to the station so he could give her the McDonald's bag.
At the station, upon searching Mangione's backpack again, police said they found a 3D-printed gun and a 3D-printed suppressor. They stated that they also found a fake New Jersey driver's license bearing the name "Mark Rosario". Reportedly, a man who checked into a Manhattan hostel in late November used an ID with the same name. Alt URL Police later reported that shell casings found at the crime scene matched the gun found on Mangione. They also said that when they arrested him, they found a 262-word handwritten document (which many media outlets characterized as a "manifesto") partly about the American healthcare system. According to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the handwritten document spoke to Mangione's "motivation and mindset". Journalist Ken Klippenstein published a transcription of the document police said was found on him; police confirmed that the transcription was authentic.
Mangione had no prior criminal record. The legality of the search of his backpack has been contested, and a motion to suppress the resulting evidence, including the handwritten document, has been made.
State and federal charges
After arresting Mangione at McDonald's for forgery and falsely identifying himself to the authorities, a police criminal complaint filed at 5:13 p.m. the same day added charges of carrying a gun without a license, "tampering with records or identification", and possessing "instruments of crime". He was arraigned at the Blair County Courthouse at 6:30 p.m. and was denied bail. Mangione was then transferred to the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon, a close-security state correctional facility in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
On the day of his arrest, December 9, 2024, NYPD officers and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office traveled to Altoona to question Mangione. Later that day, Manhattan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant charging him with second-degree murder, three counts of illegal weapons possession, and forgery. The next day, December 10, as he was led into the courthouse for another hearing, Mangione shouted at the press gathered there, "Your coverage of this event is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience."
On December 17, 2024, the Manhattan district attorney's office indicted Mangione on eleven New York state charges:
one count of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism; two counts of second-degree murder, one of which as a killing in the act of terrorism; two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon; four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon; one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon; one count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione was extradited to New York City on December 19, 2024, the same day federal prosecutors issued a complaint charging Mangione with four federal crimes, including one count of murder through the use of a firearm—a death-penalty eligible charge. On December 23, he was arraigned in the New York Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to his state charges.
During his second presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that requires the death penalty to be used wherever possible. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on April 1, 2025, that because of the President's directive, prosecutors would seek the death penalty in Mangione's federal case. On April 17, 2025, he was formally indicted on four federal charges:
one count of murder with a firearm; one count of another firearms offense; two counts of stalking.
The indictment charged that Mangione had crossed state lines in order to stalk and kill Thompson. On April 25, he was arraigned in the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse and pleaded not guilty to his federal charges.
Mangione is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn under Federal Register Number 52503-511.
Defense Mangione retained defense attorney Thomas Dickey for his Pennsylvania case. On December 13, 2024, he retained Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former prosecutor at the Manhattan district attorney's office and former legal analyst with CNN, as his defense attorney for the New York case. He later hired prison consultant Craig Rothfeld to assist with matters related to his incarceration.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to all of the Pennsylvania and New York charges. After the United States Department of Justice announced their intent to seek the death penalty in April, his New York defense team requested that the judge block the Justice Department from pursuing the death penalty, arguing that the decision was a "publicity stunt" and "consistent with the new culture of the highest levels of the Justice Department, one that values personal will over process, publicity over discretion and partisan politics over justice".