Luigi Mangione newest: Top New York lawyer tapped by CEO homicide suspect as ‘defense fund’ donations mount | EUROtoday

My colleague Alexander Butler stories:

The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen taking pictures on a busy Manhattan road has been charged with homicide within the second diploma.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested with a 3D-printed gun in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning following a six-day manhunt for the hooded shooter who gunned down the healthcare govt on a Manhattan road.

The gun matches three shell casings discovered on the crime scene and marked with “deny,” “defend” and “depose”, police officers mentioned this week.

My colleague crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin stories:

The boss of UnitedHealthcare’s mum or dad firm has paid tribute to the “brilliant, kind man” Brian Thompson, days after he was gunned down exterior his New York resort.

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday: “As Brian Thompson’s family, friends and colleagues mourn his killing, we are bearing a grief and sadness we will carry for the rest of our lives. Grief for the family he leaves behind. And grief for a brilliant, kind man who was working to make health care better for everyone.”

The chief of UnitedHealthcare’s mum or dad firm has acknowledged the general public’s “frustrations” with the US’s well being care system, which he admitted is flawed.

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday: “We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it.”

His remarks come days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot useless in an assault that was allegedly fuelled by hatred of the system.

Paying tribute to Mr Thompson as a “brilliant, kind man”, Mr Witty additionally pledged his firm would assist to repair the problems. “We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” he mentioned.

The suspect within the taking pictures is being held in his personal cell beneath most safety at Huntingdon Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.

Luigi Mangione shouldn’t be beneath suicide watch or in solitary confinement, in response to CBS News. However, he doesn’t get to work together with different inmates.

Mangione has not been violent whereas in jail, in response to officers.

He is being held in a Pennsylvania jail pending his extradition to New York to face homicide fees in connection to the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

NYPD officers mentioned Luigi Mangione’s household didn’t ship in any suggestions. That comes as their relative’s photos had been splashed throughout information channels within the hours after the taking pictures.

Police mentioned they obtained greater than 200 suggestions because the manhunt for Mangione unfolded, however none got here from household with the identical title, in response to USA Today.

It wwasn’tuntil the suspect was noticed in Pennsylvania that police swooped in to make an arrest within the case, almost every week after the killing.

Luigi Mangione’s potential motives in connection to the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson stay unclear, police say.

There is “no indication” that the taking pictures suspect, who’s believed to have undergone again surgical procedure final 12 months, was ever a shopper of UnitedHealthcare, in response to the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.

He mentioned that the findings don’t seem to point that Mangione had a grudge in opposition to Thompson, who was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, however focused the corporate for its dimension and since he had prior information of a convention happening.

“We have no indication that he ever was a client of UnitedHealthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America,” he informed NBC New York.