At first glance, the killer seemed too meticulous to be an amateur and too careless to be a professional. Yet the man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk eluded capture for days, baffling even law enforcement experts. “What struck me was how well-planned the attack was, and at the same time, how sloppy the killer was, showing up and leaving items behind,” said retired FBI supervisory agent Steve Moore.
Luigi Mangione is seen in a photo released in 2019. (CNN) “It was a bit of a paradox. It was as if he read a book on how to carry out such an attack but didn’t read it carefully. He just made serious mistakes in his actions.” The suspect’s escape ended at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Monday – where police arrested Luigi Mangione in connection with the killings. Here are what police say the suspect’s key moves were, the evidence he left behind and what experts think of his tactics:
Before the killing
He took a bus to New York and paid cash: Experts say the suspect cleverly avoided air travel, and the increased scrutiny that comes with it. If he had taken a plane to New York, the suspect would have likely had to use a credit card, show ID and expose his entire face to security cameras. If he had a gun at the time, it would likely have been discovered during a baggage check. Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the suspect took a Greyhound bus to New York. Former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Richard Esposito said that by taking a Greyhound bus, the suspect “paid cash and had no ID.“That’s one of the reasons people ride Greyhound buses. You can come and go as you please and it’s very anonymous.” Nearly a week after the killings, it’s still unclear where the suspect boarded the bus. The bus departed from Atlanta, but authorities don’t know if the suspect boarded in Atlanta or elsewhere. Law enforcement officials told CNN that NYPD detectives traveled to Georgia and reviewed surveillance footage from the Atlanta Greyhound station but found no sign of the suspect. The detectives returned to New York. CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said investigators are still trying to determine where the suspect boarded the bus.He arrived early and stayed in a hotel — also paying with cash: Authorities say the suspect arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan on November 24 — 10 days before the murders. He checked into a hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side using a fake New Jersey driver’s license, law enforcement officials told CNN. While hotels typically require a credit card to reserve a room, some do not. Law enforcement officials told Miller that the suspect paid for his stay. By paying with cash, the suspect was able to avoid digital traces associated with any credit card or online accounts. It appears the suspect used cash throughout his 10 days in New York, during which time he finalized his plans for the killings and his escape.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has released a jail photo of Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Channel 9) He wore his mask conscientiously.. then took it off: The suspect was shown in numerous public surveillance cameras wearing a jacket hood and a mask over his face. But a law enforcement official told CNN that surveillance footage captured a rare photo of the suspect without his mask when a hotel employee flirted with him and asked him to take it off. “He took his mask off and smiled a big smile,” Miller said. “This flirtation between the two of them, in a humorous way, actually provided the most important clue to identify him so far.” Miller said the decision to show his face was likely strategic.
On Dec. 5, the NYPD released photos asking for the public’s help in identifying the “person of interest” in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (NYPD) “He probably just calculated, ‘If I don’t do this, I’m going to look more suspicious,'” Miller said. But removing the mask to show his face was “one of his biggest mistakes,” said retired FBI agent Daniel Brenner. Police later released a photo taken from a security camera inside a taxi that clearly showed the suspect’s eyes. On Monday, a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, noticed a man eating at the restaurant who looked like the suspect. The NYPD arrived on the scene and the suspect, Mangione, was arrested.
An employee at a McDonald’s restaurant reported to police a customer who was found with a weapon and texts that linked him to the brazen killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in Manhattan. (AP) He used an untraceable ghost gun: The gun seen in the surveillance video looked so unusual that it puzzled even police veterans. “I’m not familiar with that gun at all,” said Charles Ramsey, CNN’s senior law enforcement analyst and a former senior police officer in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The man arrested in Pennsylvania was in possession of a “ghost gun” when he was searched by local police at a McDonald’s, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Monday. “He was in possession of a ghost gun that was capable of firing 9mm bullets and a silencer,” he said. A silencer, also known as a silencer, silences the sound of a gunshot, self-assembled guns, often assembled from parts sold online — sometimes in as little as 30 minutes. These weapons don’t have serial numbers, making them harder to track and regulate. Ghost gun kits purchased online don’t require background checks. So buyers can sidestep requirements that are usually required when buying a gun. Kenny said the gun found in the suspect’s possession may have been 3D-printed. He said police will learn more details after ballistics testing.
CNN has obtained video footage of the gun used by the gunman who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York. (CNN)
After the killing
He kept dropping evidence (and apparently didn’t mind leaving DNA): Shortly after the predawn killings, the suspect appeared to leave behind a trail of evidence. A discarded Starbucks water bottle, an energy bar wrapper and a disposable cell phone provided police with DNA material and partial fingerprints. Later, a backpack similar to the one the gunman was carrying was found in Central Park. Dumping the backpack in Central Park may have looked like “a critical mistake,” criminologist Kathy Jordan said after police found it Friday. “But I don’t underestimate the intelligence of this particular suspect,” she said. “It took a lot of planning… We can’t rule out that he planned for us to find the backpack, that he left taboo items in it, things that would interfere with the investigation.”
NYPD officers and police dogs searched the lakefront of Central Park on Monday. (AP/Yuki Iwamura) Police moved the backpack to a lab and carefully opened it, finding no murder weapon, just a jacket and Monopoly coins. Law enforcement experts say it may have been wise for the suspect to leave the backpack behind. It would have been easier to link him to the crime if he was still carrying the same unique backpack. Authorities hoped DNA samples from the wrapper and water bottle, as well as partial fingerprints on the phone, could help them identify the suspect. But tests showed no DNA or fingerprint matches in law enforcement databases. Jordan said the suspect may have intentionally discarded some of the evidence to confuse investigators. “That water bottle they found, which they think he dropped, may have been picked up from the trash before he left Starbucks. There could have been someone else’s DNA on it,” she said. “You just don’t know how much planning and orchestration he put into this.” But now that the suspect has been arrested, “they’ll take a DNA swab from him — even if they need a warrant to get one — and then match it to the DNA that was recovered,” Miller said.
The suspect who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last week has been denied bail after being arrested on five charges in Pennsylvania, according to court documents and New York officials. (Ninth) He planned a complex route out of New York: It’s unclear how the gunman knew Thompson would walk by him at 6:44 a.m. (8:44 p.m. AEDT). UnitedHealthcare’s investor meeting was supposed to start at 8 a.m at the hotel, but the gunman hid behind a car minutes before Thompson walked by. He then walked up to the CEO and shot him in the back. Police said the suspect immediately fled the scene after the shooting, got on an electric bike, rode into Central Park, ditched the bike, hailed a taxi and headed to a terminal with interstate buses to various destinations. Former FBI agent Ken Gray told CNN that the suspect’s complex escape strategy may indicate that he practiced every step in advance – from the shooting scene at the hotel to his departure from New York. “He was able to get to that location, get there in a timely manner, shoot Thompson, and then get on his bike and leave there, get on a bus and leave the area, leave New York City — that suggests he practiced this, he knew what he was going to do, and the route to leave the area,” Gray said.
UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson. (UnitedHealth Group) He apparently forgot to discard his fake ID: Police said the suspect discarded his backpack, water bottle, energy bar wrappers and disposable cell phone, while keeping some evidence. Multiple law enforcement officials told Miller that after Mangione was spotted at McDonald’s, investigators found multiple fake IDs in his possession, including one that police believe the suspect used in New York City. Officers also found a gun with a silencer, similar to the one used in Thompson’s killing, officials said. The discovery might not have been made without the collaborative efforts of police, the media and the public.
NYPD officers in wet suits search the lake in Central Park. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) “In just five days, our NYPD investigators pored over thousands of hours of video, followed hundreds of leads, and processed every bit of forensic evidence — DNA, fingerprints, IP addresses and more — to tighten the case,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. She thanked the media for their coverage of the case and praised the public for the tips. “We should never underestimate the power of the public as our eyes and ears in these investigations,” Tisch said.