Growing Up Amidst Wealth and Prominence, Luigi Mangione was a 'Bright Kid with a Bright Future'

When authorities released photos of the suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s fatal shooting, social media commenters called him everything from a modern-day Robin Hood to a real-life John Wick, the fictional hitman of the eponymous movie franchise.

After a five-day manhunt, on Monday, Dec. 9, the world learned the identity of the alleged suspect in the high-profile midtown Manhattan shooting: 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, the scion of a prominent Maryland family and an Ivy League tech whiz.

Mangione was taken into custody at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., after an employee tipped off by a customer called police, authorities said at a press conference Monday.

Initially arrested on alleged firearms and forgery charges in Pennsylvania, Mangione was charged Monday night in Manhattan with second-degree murder and other counts. He indicated to a Pennsylvania judge that he will fight attempts by New York prosecutors to extradite him.

Many on social media speculated that the suspect targeted a health insurance executive because he or a loved one had suffered because of denied claims or expensive out-of-pocket costs. Bullet casings found on the scene were engraved with the words “deny” and “defend,” while a manifesto found on Mangione’s person described the health insurance industry as “parasites.”

While police are still investigating a possible motive, a more defined picture of Mangione is starting to take shape.

Mangione comes from a wealthy family which has significant real estate holdings and is known for philanthropy in Maryland. The local empire was started by Mangione’s grandfather, Nick Mangione Sr., who died in 2008 at age 83.

Born in 1925 to a poor family in Baltimore, Nick served in the armed forces before becoming a mason, a contractor and then a real estate developer, according to The New York Times. Married for 58 years, Nick and his wife, Mary, both Italian immigrants, had 10 children together. 

“Nick was a hard-working real estate developer who owned multiple properties,” Greater Baltimore Medical Center’s magazine, Greater Living, wrote in 2022, “while Mary managed the house and the busy lives of their family, All 10 of their children currently work for the family business, which is one simple way to define the intimacy this family shares, even as they grow larger with each passing year.” 

In 1977, Nick started the nursing home company, Lorien Health Services. The following year, he bought the Turf Valley country club in Ellicott City, Md., and then in 1986, the Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, Md. They also own a conservative talk radio station, WCBM.

Known for its charitable giving, the family runs a foundation with more than $4.5 million in assets, CNN reports. It donated regularly to Loyola University in Maryland, which named its aquatics center after the Mangiones, according to CNN.

The family also donated $1 million to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, which named its high-risk obstetrics unit after the Mangiones, according to The Baltimore Banner. 

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Family is important to the Mangiones, Nick’s daughter Frances Mangione told Greater Living. “For my father, the two biggest things are family and God,” Frances said. “I wish I could say how they did it, but in raising us, that was ingrained.”

In keeping with the tradition of working for the family businesses, Luigi Mangione’s father later became an owner of Lorien and ran its nursing homes, where Luigi had volunteered, CNN reports.

Scion of Influential Family

Growing up as a son of privilege, Mangione attended Baltimore’s prestigious Gilman School, where tuition costs more than $37,000 a year, and where he was valedictorian in 2016. 

In 2020, Mangione simultaneously earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania, The Daily Pennsylvanian reports.

By 2022, Mangione was living in Hawaii, where he stayed at a co-living community. He worked as a data engineer for TrueCar until 2023, the company confirmed to PEOPLE.

This summer, friends who knew Mangione say he went “radio silent,” according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. 

Family and friends are shocked at the arrest. Mangione “is the last person I expected to be involved in something like this,” a Gilman graduate told ABC News.

“He always came off as a really good kid, very nice, very humble, open to talk to anyone,” the graduate said. “Just a bright kid with a bright future, is kind of what I thought.”