A New York grand jury indicted Luigi Mangione on charges of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.
Mangione, 26, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism.
He is also charged in the Manhattan Supreme Court indictment with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, a single count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and possession of a forged New Jersey driver’s license.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to file paperwork seeking Mangione’s extradition from Pennsylvania, where the Ivy League graduate has been held since he was arrested last week at a McDonald’s.
A source familiar with the situation told NBC News on Tuesday that Mangione plans to waive extradition, which would allow him to be transported to New York within days.
Mangione, who comes from a prominent Baltimore-area family, faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted.
He is accused of fatally shooting Thompson with a 9mm handgun equipped with a silencer on Dec. 4 outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.
Thompson, 50, was headed into the hotel for an investor day event for his company’s parent, UnitedHealth Group.
“This was a killing to evoke terror,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a news conference to announce the 11-count indictment. “This was not an ordinary killing … this was extraordinary.”
Bragg called the killing “brazen” and “targeted.
He also said “we have indications” that Mangione will waive his right to an extradition hearing on Thursday in Pennsylvania, and consent to be sent to New York to face the murder case.
New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that in the nearly two weeks since Thompson’s killing “we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder.”
Tisch was referencing the fact that Mangione has become a folk hero to some people who praised Thompson’s slaying because of criticism that his company, the largest private health insurer in the United States, denied benefit claims by customers at a high rate.
“Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack. People ghoulishly plastered posters threatening the CEOs, other CEOs, with an ‘x’ over Mr. Thompson’s picture as though he was some sort of a sick trophy,” Tisch said.
” These are the threats of a lawless, violent mob who would trade in their own vigilantism for the rule of law that protects us all.”
“Let me say this plainly, there is no heroism in what Mangione did,” the commissioner said. “This was a senseless act of violence. It was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk. We don’t celebrate murders, and we don’t lionize the killing of anyone.”
Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after police responded to a call of a suspicious person at the restaurant. He allegedly gave officers a fake New Jersey ID that is believed to be the same one he used to check into a Manhattan hostel in late November.
Police found a gun, a silencer, and 9mm ammunition in his backpack. The gun matched three shell casings found outside the shooting scene in Manhattan, and Mangione’s fingerprints matched ones found on a water bottle and snack bar left near the scene, police said.
The shell casings found at the scene had the words “deny,” and “depose,” written on them, while an unfired bullet had the word “delay” written on it, the DA’s office said. The words match those used to describe tactics of health insurers and other insurance companies to deny claims by customers.
Prosecutors in Manhattan, hours after Mangione’s arrest, filed a criminal complaint against him charging him with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a silencer, and possession of a forged instrument.
The grand jury indictment handed up Tuesday supersedes that complaint.
Mangione, who is being held in a Pennsylvania prison without bail on gun and forgery charges, is due to appear Thursday morning in Blair County Court for two separate hearings.
The first session will be a preliminary hearing on the state criminal charges there. The second hearing, with a different judge, will deal with extradition proceedings.
Mangione was visited in the prison in Huntingdon on Friday by his New York criminal defense lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, and her husband and law partner, Marc Agnifilo.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.