Luigi Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of health services CEO Brian Thompson, the New York district attorney said Tuesday.
Mangione faces various charges, including first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which describes the killing as an act of "terrorism," Bragg said.
"The intent was to sow terror," New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, calling the killing a "horrific, well-planned and targeted crime."
Mangione is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 19 to decide whether to extradite him to New York on the charges, but Bragg suggested the suspect may not contest extradition.
The extradition hearing is set for the same day as Mangione's preliminary hearing on gun charges in Pennsylvania.
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, both Bragg and New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch criticized the public for praising Mangione after the Dec. 4 killing.
"Since Mr. Thompson's murder, we have seen a shocking and horrific celebration of cold-blooded murder," Ms. Tisch. "We don't celebrate murder and we don't make a hero of a person who kills."
When asked about the specific terrorism charges, Mr Bragg replied that "in simple terms, this was a murder intended to provoke terror".
Five days after the murder of Mr. Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a fake ID and a "phantom gun," according to police.
His attorney, Thomas Dickey, has said he has seen no evidence linking Mangione's gun to the crime.
New York prosecutors began sharing evidence in the case against Mangione with a grand jury last week.
If extradited, the 26-year-old is likely to be held at Rikers Island or another New York prison.
Evidence against Mangione includes a positive match of his fingerprints to those found at the crime scene, Commissioner Tisch said.
According to District Attorney Bragg, the suspect arrived in New York on Nov. 24, staying at a Manhattan hostel using a fake ID before carrying out the attack on Thompson 10 days later.
In addition to the phantom gun, a gun assembled from unidentifiable parts and fake ID, a passport and a handwritten document showing "motivation and mindset"; were also found on Mangione when he was arrested, according to police.
During Tuesday's news conference announcing the charges against Mangione in New York, NYPD Chief of Investigators Joseph Kenny also described an interaction with the suspect's mother, who in November filed a report about the man. lost to her son in San Francisco.
After the search for the homicide suspect began, that report was alerted to authorities, who contacted Mangione's mother. According to Kenny, his mother said she did not identify her son as the suspect, but said "it could be something she could see him do."
Mangione was formally charged in Pennsylvania with forgery, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with documents or identification, possession of tools of crime and providing a false identification to police.
While Mangione awaits his fate in the New York court system, he remains in maximum security at the Huntingdon State Correctional Facility in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
Luigi Mangione has also been denied bail.
Suggested articles:
