How police caught the suspect in deadly capturing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

Excessive-tech drones have been deployed, a whole lot of hours of video have been examined and state-of-the-art instruments scrutinized an “huge quantity” of forensic proof. However when an arrest got here in relation to the high-profile killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, it boiled all the way down to “good old style police work,” authorities mentioned.

5 days after Thompson was openly gunned down on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was recognized as a “individual of curiosity” within the murder that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned “captured the eye of all the nation.”

Mangione, a former highschool valedictorian with no identified prison file, was taken into custody Monday morning at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh, after an worker acknowledged him from surveillance images that the NYPD launched of the gunman and known as 911.

A prison grievance filed Monday evening by Pennsylvania prosecutors mentioned Mangione was sporting a blue surgical masks and sitting on the rear of the McDonald’s taking a look at a laptop computer when two officers approached him at 9:14 a.m. and requested him to drag down his masks. Mangione complied and allegedly gave the officers an ID they confirmed was faux after they ran it by way of their dispatch heart, in response to the court docket papers.

The officers, who acknowledged the person from an image in an NYPD advisory of the murder suspect, requested Mangione if he had been in New York Metropolis not too long ago, in response to the grievance.

“The male turned quiet and began to shake,” the grievance says.

When the officers confronted Mangione in regards to the faux ID, he gave his actual identify and date of beginning, in response to the papers. One of many officers, the grievance states, requested “why he lied,” prompting Mangione to answer, “I clearly should not have.”

Mangione was subsequently charged with 5 crimes, together with carrying a gun with no license, forgery, falsely figuring out himself to authorities and possessing “devices of crime,” in response to a prison grievance.

He has but to be charged with Thompson’s homicide, Tisch mentioned, though he was upgraded from a “individual of curiosity” to a suspect on Monday evening.

Through the search of Mangione’s backpack, officers allegedly discovered a black 3-D printed pistol and a black silencer, which was additionally 3-D printed, in response to the prison grievance.

“The pistol had one loaded Glock journal with six nine-millimeter full steel jack rounds. There was additionally one unfastened nine-millimeter hole level spherical,” the grievance alleges.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny described the weapon allegedly discovered on Mangione as a “ghost gun,” which means it had no serial quantity and was untraceable.

Mangione — who grew up in Maryland and had later lived in each San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii — was additionally in possession of a three-page, handwritten doc that Tisch mentioned “speaks to each his motivation and mindset.”

Kenny added that the doc contained writing that expressed “some unwell will towards company America.”

A number of fraudulent IDs have been discovered on Mangione, in addition to a U.S. passport, Tisch mentioned.

“Additionally recovered was a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID our suspect used to verify into his New York Metropolis hostel earlier than the capturing incident,” Tisch mentioned.

Kenny mentioned that earlier than Mangione’s arrest, police had not recognized him by identify.

Tisch mentioned that throughout the investigation, police deployed drones, Ok-9 items and SCUBA divers. She mentioned investigators additionally leaned closely on the experience and expertise of the FBI, along with its personal intelligence and counterterrorism bureaus, to assist crack the case.

“For simply over 5 days, our NYPD investigators combed by way of 1000’s of hours of video, adopted up on a whole lot of ideas and processed each little bit of forensic proof, DNA, fingerprints, IP addresses and a lot extra to tighten the web,” mentioned Tisch. “Our detectives additionally went door to door interviewing potential witnesses and doing good old style police work that our investigators are well-known for.”

The commissioner added, “This mix of old-school detective work and new-age expertise is what led to this end result at the moment.”

New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams shared a video on X Monday evening, thanking Altoona Police officer Tyler Frye who arrested Mangione. “He is been on the job for six months and arrested the suspect within the capturing of Brian Thompson,” Adams mentioned of Frye. “We’re very appreciative of the partnership between native police, state companions, and the NYPD. Collectively, we introduced him into custody and took a harmful particular person off our streets,” Adams added.

Thompson’s killing unfolded round 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday outdoors the New York Hilton resort the place the manager was to attend a shareholder assembly.

The gunman, who was sporting a masks and a hooded jacket was captured on surveillance video ambushing Thompson from behind in what investigators described as a “brazen, focused capturing.”

Kenny mentioned the massive break within the investigation got here inside hours of the probe commencing when police obtained a surveillance picture of the suspect at a Starbucks at West 56th Avenue and sixth Avenue close to the New York Hilton.

“There’s quite a few lynchpins on this case, in the truth that we have recovered an infinite quantity of forensic proof, an infinite quantity of video. So, I actually could not put it on one factor. But when I needed to, it might be the discharge of that {photograph},” Kenny mentioned. “We took that {photograph} and we requested for the general public’s assist in figuring out this topic, and the general public responded.”

Kenny mentioned detectives spent a whole lot of hours combing by way of “each supply of video that we might acquire.” Utilizing video, detectives have been in a position to observe the killer from the scene of the capturing as he made his getaway on foot and bicycle by way of Midtown Manhattan, Central Park and higher Manhattan. Detectives even obtained video of him quickly after he arrived within the metropolis by bus.

Police subsequently launched clearer pictures of the suspect, together with one wherein he confirmed his face whereas checking right into a youth hostel in higher Manhattan, and an up-close shot of him at the back of a taxi sporting a masks.

“The photographs that we shared with the general public have been unfold far and broad, and the guidelines we acquired led to the restoration of essential proof,” mentioned Tisch, acknowledging the “instrumental function of the media and the general public on this case.”

Tisch added, “We should always by no means underestimate the facility of the general public to be our eyes and our ears in these investigation.”

She mentioned it marked the third time in as many weeks {that a} tip from the general public led to an arrest in a high-profile case, together with a triple stabbing murder in Manhattan and a sequence of gunpoint robberies in Queens, throughout which a police officer was shot.

Kenny mentioned the investigation is much from over, as detectives proceed to look into whether or not the gunman had assist.

“We imagine, at this level, our investigation is leaning towards he acted alone,” Kenny mentioned.

Wanting forward, Tisch mentioned, “We’ll work out by way of extradition to carry him again to New York to face expenses right here, working with the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace.”