What we know about Luigi Mangione, suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s assault that has recently been charged

Police in Altoona, Pennsylvania arrested Luigi Mangione, 26, on several charges on Monday, and also faces second-degree murder in New York, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed.

Mangione is believed to be the suspect wanted in connection with the insurance executive’s death, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Mangione was in possession of a handwritten document “that speaks to his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.

“It does seem that he had some ill will toward corporate America,” police said.

He was also in possession of a fake NJ driver’s license similar to the one the suspect used on New York to check into a hostel.

Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, Tisch said. Mangione was carrying a firearm and officers found a suppressor, “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said.

He has no prior arrest history in New York, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a news briefing.

Mangione was born and raised in the Baltimore suburbs of Maryland. He attended the Gilman School, a private all-boys school in Baltimore.

Mangione was Gilman’s valedictorian the year he graduated, 2016, and gave a speech at commencement in which he credited his classmates for their “inventive, pioneering mentality that accompanies a strong commitment to Gilman tradition.”

Mangione thanked the graduates’ families for their time and love, and every Gilman teacher in all three divisions.

“Our imagination draws from your inspiration, and our courage largely depends on your encouragement in the classroom, on the field, and on the stage,” he said.

In a statement from a high school friend who spoke with ABC News, he said Mangione is “the last person I expected to be involved in something like this.”

“He was an incredibly intelligent, humble, and kind person,” said the classmate who graduated with Mangione in 2016. “He didn’t give any indication of radical views or mental instability at the time. He seemed a like a very bright guy with a bright future.”

Mangione is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a university spokesperson told our sister station, WPVI-TV.

He majored in computer science and graduated in May 2020.

Mangione also has ties to San Francisco and Honolulu, Kenny said.

Police are going through the writings he had more thoroughly to understand his motive.

“It does seem that he had some ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.

Mangione had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace, investigators said.

“As of right now, the information we’re getting from Altoona is that the gun appears to be a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, capable of firing a 9 mm round,” Kenny said.

UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.

The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching the executive from behind and opening fire, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. He used a 9 mm pistol that police said resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise.

In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of photos and video – including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.

New photos released

NYPD officials released new images this weekend of the suspect being sought in the shooting in the back of a taxi, where he could be seen peering through the open slider in the partition between the seats.

Another photo appeared to show the man walking by the window of a cab.

Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.

Backpack contained Monopoly money

Police found a backpack believed to belong to the suspected shooter in Central Park on Friday evening, police sources told ABC News. The backpack contained fake money from the game Monopoly and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket, sources said.

The backpack found in Central Park that’s believed to have belonged to the suspect contained a jacket and Monopoly money, according to police sources.

The backpack was found after NYPD deployed an army of officers and drones to conduct a grid search, police sources said earlier.

As of Saturday, three days after the shooting, sources close to the investigation told ABC News the New York Police Department is making progress toward identifying the gunman but, as of now, still has not done so.

On Friday, police said they believed the gunman left New York City following the shooting — ditching his bike on the Upper West Side and taking a taxi to a Port Authority bus facility at 178th Street. Police said they believe he boarded a bus there because they did not see him on video leaving the facility.

Suspect stayed at hostel

The NYPD released on Thursday new photos of the suspect, seen without a mask, while asking for the public’s help in identifying him. The images were taken from a surveillance camera at the HI New York City Hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Police had obtained a warrant to search after coming to believe the suspect stayed there, sources told ABC News.

The NYPD released new, clear images of the suspect’s face on Thursday as they continue to search for the shooter.

Police were able to find an image of the suspect without his face mask because he was flirting with the woman who checked him into the hostel, police sources told ABC News.

As he stood at the check-in desk, the sources said the woman asked to see his smile. The suspected shooter obliged, pulling down his mask long enough for the surveillance camera to capture his face.

It appears the suspect shared a room with two other men, according to police sources.

The suspect likely checked into the hostel on Nov. 24, checked out and then checked back in again on Nov. 30, according to sources. It’s not clear when the surveillance image was captured.

The suspected shooter checked into the hostel using a New Jersey license that wasn’t his own, according to police sources. Detectives ran the name and found it did not resemble any known photos of the suspect or other evidence amassed so far, the sources said.

Suspect arrived in NYC 10 days before shooting: Sources

The suspect came to New York City on Nov. 24 on a Greyhound bus, when a surveillance camera at Port Authority Bus Terminal caught his arrival at 9 p.m., law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The inbound bus originated in Atlanta but it was not immediately clear where the suspect boarded. The sources said he was spotted on board in Washington, D.C., so he boarded there or somewhere between D.C. and Atlanta.

Both Greyhound and the parent company of the hostel, Hostelling International USA, said in a statement that they are “fully cooperating with the NYPD” but cannot comment further due to the active investigation.

The 10-day period had been the focus of investigative efforts. Police collected a lot of video of the suspect all over the city — in the subway, in cabs, in a McDonald’s, according to sources. Each place he paid with cash and he made sure to keep his mask on, according to sources.

Tracing how the suspect left the city after the murder

Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, investigators say the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle, emerged from park without his backpack and then ditched the bicycle.

He then walked a couple blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.

The FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.