Luigi Mangionethe main suspect in killing the CEO of the insurance company UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, in New York, He was formally indicted this Tuesday by a grand jury for first-degree murder. This charge is usually reserved for the murder of police officers or serial killers.
Mangione, 26 years old, faces eleven charges in New Yorkwhich also includes two counts of second-degree murder, one of them as a crime of terrorism “for the brazen, selective and premeditated shooting of Brian Thompson”Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg explained in a press conference. In this sense, he stressed that the objective of the murder was to “cause terror”: “This was not an ordinary murder.”
The prosecutor added that, after seeing the photos of the suspect in the Manhattan hotel where he was staying, the Police contacted Mangione’s mother, who had previously reported him missing. The woman “did not indicate that the person in the photograph was her son,” but admitted that Thompson’s murder is something “I could see him doing.”
The prosecution’s indictment in the New York Supreme Court indicates that Mangione killed Thompson in “promotion of an act of terrorism.” “It was intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a government unit by intimidation or coercion, and affect human life,” he notes. It was also intended to “cause commotion, attention and intimidation,” as it occurred in one of the “busiest” areas of the city, the indictment states.
For her part, the Commissioner of the New York Police, Jessica Tisch, has indicated that the accusation allows “to reaffirm the primacy of the rule of law.” “It brings us one step closer to ensuring justice for Brian Thompson and his family,” he added before insisting that the shooting was “a senseless act of violence.” ““It was a cold, calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk,” has indicated, adding that they do not “praise the murder of anyone.”
The accused faces a Maximum penalty of life in prison for first- and second-degree murder charges as a crime of terrorism (in New York there is no death penalty), Tisch has transferred. Mangione is also charged with seven other charges related to the possession of weapons and another for possession of “a forged instrument.”
Thompson, 50 years old and with a two-decade track record at UnitedHealth Groupassumed the leadership of UnitedHealthcare’s insurance division in 2021. At the time of the murder he was preparing to attend the multinational’s annual investors conference.