Yesterday, the suspected killer of ex-UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was caught in Pennsylvania. After a days long search, the suspect was revealed to be 26 year old Luigi Mangione.
“I first saw it through my email from the New York Times and I was surprised,” sophomore Arria Shimizu said. “That said, I was even more surprised to see how fast they caught Mangione,”
It is alleged that Mangione fatally shot Thompson in front of a hotel in New York on Dec. 4. Once shooting the CEO, the suspect fled the scene by cab and bicycle. The suspect’s disappearance prompted police forces all over the country to begin the search to apprehend the killer.
“I feel like the shooting was really sudden and his capture also seemed quick,” freshman Angela You said. “The murder seems planned because it doesn’t seem likely that someone would randomly kill a CEO,”
Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, an American company that provides health insurance and services to people across the nation. While UnitedHealthcare is one of the most trusted healthcare insurance providers, recently there have been complaints that UnitedHealthcare denied people’s insurance claims and put profits over proper care, according to English faculty Susan Wilson.
“I had UnitedHealthcare through the school, but teachers were informed that UnitedHealthcare was renegotiating their terms that are not favorable to teachers,” Wilson said. “The school told us to look into their policies, and once I did, I decided to switch to a different insurance provider,”
Luigi Mangione is a data-engineer who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Masters in Engineering, according to his Linkedin. He also has ties in the Bay Area with his involvement as the head of a pre-collegiate studies program at Stanford.
Mangione was caught at a McDonalds with a three page manifesto on him that talked about corruption in the insurance industry. As he is being charged for second degree murder, gun charges, and forgery, his manifesto will play a key role in his future trial.
“This event adds to all the negative, dark news we’ve been receiving lately,” Shimizu said. “But it definitely opens up the conversation about our flawed healthcare system.”
