UnitedHealth CEO Murder Suspect Mangione Submits to Extradition to NY

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson is expected to be transferred into New York's custody to face murder charges after he waived his right to extradition proceedings in a Pennsylvania court hearing Thursday.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9, five days after Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference in what law-enforcement officials have called a premeditated assassination.

A grand jury in New York has indicted Mangione on 11 counts, including first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism. Mangione has been in jail since his arrest. His New York defense lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has declined to comment on the charges against Mangione.

He emerged from a police vehicle dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit before being escorted into the Blair County courthouse on Thursday morning.

While the killing of Thompson has been broadly condemned, Mangione has been feted as a folk hero by some Americans who decry the steep costs of healthcare and the power that insurance companies have to deny paying for some medical treatments. A small crowd of supporters stood outside the courthouse, some waving signs that condemned the health insurance industry.

Late on Wednesday, The New York Times reported Mangione would also face charges from federal prosecutors in Manhattan, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear what those charges would be. Federal charges would potentially allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, which has been outlawed in New York for decades, according to the report. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment.

In Pennsylvania, police said Mangione had a self-assembled 9mm handgun in his backpack and a homemade silencer when he was arrested after being spotted at a McDonald's restaurant. The handgun resembled the weapon used to kill Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer.

Mangione, a Maryland native who had lived in Hawaii, also had multiple fake identification documents, including a fake New Jersey ID that was used to check into a Manhattan hostel days before Thompson's shooting, police said.

In Pennsylvania, Mangione has been charged with forgery and illegally possessing an unlicensed gun.

At the courthouse Thursday, Mangione had a preliminary hearing for the Pennsylvania charges, immediately followed by a second on New York's extradition request.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office is accusing Mangione of an act of terrorism under New York law because Thompson's killing was intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or "influence the policies of a unit of government."