By SEAN MURPHY | Related Press
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the suspect within the deadly taking pictures of a healthcare government in New York Metropolis, apparently was residing a charmed life: the grandson of a rich actual property developer, valedictorian of his elite Baltimore prep faculty and with levels from one of many nation’s prime non-public universities.
Pals at an unique co-living area on the fringe of touristy Waikiki in Hawaii the place the 26-year-old Mangione as soon as lived broadly thought of him a “great guy,” and photos on his social media accounts present a match, smiling, good-looking younger man on seashores and at events.
Now, investigators in New York and Pennsylvania are working to piece collectively why Mangione could have diverged from this path to make the violent and radical determination to gun down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen assault on a Manhattan avenue.
The killing sparked widespread discussions about company greed, unfairness within the medical insurance coverage trade and even impressed folk-hero sentiment towards his killer.
However Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sharply refuted that notion after Mangione’s arrest on Monday when a buyer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed Mangione consuming and seen he resembled the taking pictures suspect in security-camera pictures launched by New York police.
“In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this, he is no hero,” Shapiro mentioned. “The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”
Mangione’s household and upbringing
Mangione comes from a outstanding Maryland household. His grandfather, Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a profitable actual property developer. Certainly one of his best-known tasks was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxurious retreat and convention middle exterior Baltimore that he bought in 1978.
The Mangione household additionally bought Hayfields Nation Membership north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday, Baltimore County law enforcement officials blocked off an entrance to the property, which public information hyperlink to Luigi Mangione’s mother and father. Reporters and photographers gathered exterior the doorway.
The daddy of 10 kids, Nick Mangione ready his 5 sons — together with Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to assist handle the household enterprise, in accordance with a 2003 Washington Submit report. Nick Mangione had 37 grandchildren, together with Luigi, in accordance with the grandfather’s obituary.
Luigi Mangione’s grandparents donated to charities by means of the Mangione Household Basis, in accordance with a press release from Loyola College commemorating Nick Mangione’s spouse’s dying in 2023. They donated to numerous causes, together with Catholic organizations, faculties and the humanities.
Certainly one of Luigi Mangione’s cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesman for the lawmaker’s workplace confirmed.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s household mentioned in a press release posted on social media by Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”
Mangione’s schooling and work historical past
Mangione, who was valedictorian of his elite Maryland prep faculty, earned undergraduate and graduate levels in pc science in 2020 from the College of Pennsylvania, a college spokesman instructed The Related Press.
He discovered to code in highschool and helped begin a membership at Penn for folks concerned with gaming and recreation design, in accordance with a 2018 story in Penn Right now, a campus publication.
His social media posts counsel he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. Additionally they present him participating in a 2019 program at Stanford College, and in pictures with household and buddies on the Jersey Shore and in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and different locations.
The Gilman College, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is one among Baltimore’s elite prep faculties. The youngsters of among the metropolis’s wealthiest and most outstanding residents, together with Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have attended the varsity. Its alumni embody sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington.
In his valedictory speech, Luigi Mangione described his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things.”
Mangione took a software program programming internship after highschool at Maryland-based online game studio Firaxis, the place he fastened bugs on the hit technique recreation Civilization 6, in accordance with a LinkedIn profile. Firaxis’ guardian firm, Take-Two Interactive, mentioned it might not touch upon former staff.
He extra just lately labored on the car-buying web site TrueCar, however has not labored there since 2023, the top of the Santa Monica, California-based firm confirmed to the AP.
Time in Hawaii and experiences of again ache
From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” area on the fringe of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu.
Like different residents of the shared penthouse catering to distant employees, Mangione underwent a background verify, mentioned Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for proprietor and founder R.J. Martin.
“Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan mentioned. “There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.”
At Surfbreak, Martin discovered Mangione had extreme again ache from childhood that interfered with many features of his life, together with browsing, Ryan mentioned.
“He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back,” Ryan mentioned, however famous that Mangione and Martin typically went collectively to a rock-climbing health club.
Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgical procedure on the mainland, Ryan mentioned, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an residence. A picture posted to a social media account linked to Mangione confirmed what seemed to be an X-ray of a steel rod and a number of screws inserted into somebody’s decrease backbone.
Martin stopped listening to from Mangione six months to a yr in the past.
An X account linked to Mangione consists of latest posts in regards to the adverse influence of smartphones on kids; wholesome consuming and train habits; psychological theories; and a quote from Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti in regards to the risks of changing into “well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Police report a darker flip
Mangione possible was motivated by his anger at what he referred to as “parasitic” medical insurance firms and a disdain for company greed, in accordance with a regulation enforcement bulletin obtained by AP.
He wrote that the U.S. has the costliest healthcare system on the earth and that the earnings of main firms proceed to rise whereas “our life expectancy” doesn’t, in accordance with the bulletin, based mostly on a evaluate of the suspect’s handwritten notes and social media posts.
He appeared to view the focused killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown, asserting in his observe that he’s the “first to face it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin mentioned.
Mangione referred to as “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and will have discovered inspiration from the person who carried out a collection of bombings whereas railing in opposition to fashionable society and expertise, the doc mentioned.
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Related Press reporters Lea Skene in Baltimore; Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Michael Kunzelman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
Initially Printed: December 11, 2024 at 7:26 AM PST
