Luigi Mangione's Mother Told FBI She 'Could See Him' Shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO

Two days before her son was apprehended, Luigi Mangione’s mother told investigators she “could see him” shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, New York police said on Tuesday.

The bombshell disclosure came as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced an indictment against Mangione on first-degree murder charges, predicated on the allegation that the Dec. 4 killing of Thompson was an act of terrorism.

During a press conference announcing the indictment, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny addressed a missing person report filed by Mangione’s mother, Kathleen, in November, and a tip furnished to the NYPD by San Francisco police, who believed the grinning young man seen on a hostel’s security tape resembled the missing Mangione.

Once the tip was received, Kenny said a task force of FBI and NYPD personnel reached out to Mangione’s mom on Dec. 7.

“They had a conversation where she didn’t indicate that it was her son in the photograph,” Kenny said. “But she said it might be something that she could see him doing.”

The information was “going to be passed along to the detectives the next morning, but fortunately we apprehended him before we could act on that,” Kenny continued.

Requests for comment from Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, and his cousin Nino Mangione, a Maryland politician who’d previously issued a statement on behalf of the suspect’s family, were not immediately returned.

Mangione, 26, was reportedly not in contact with his family or friends for six months before being arrested on Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. after an eagle-eyed customer alerted staff they believed a person resembling the shooting suspect was on the premises. Police say he was carrying a 9 mm “ghost gun,” a suppressor and several fake IDs.

The Ivy League-educated scion of a prominent Maryland family is suspected of approaching Thompson, CEO of one of America’s largest health insurers, on the street in Midtown Manhattan early on Dec. 4 and opening fire. Thompson, 50, was hit in the back and leg and died shortly thereafter in a local hospital.

Authorities believe Mangione harbored ill will towards corporate America and the health insurance industry. Besides the gun and IDs, police discovered a three-page “manifesto” in his possession detailing his ire towards the health insurance industry, calling people who work in it “parasites” who “had it coming.”

Further, the words “deny” and “depose” were found on shell casings at the scene of the crime and “delay” was found on a bullet — similar to a phrase used to describe the health insurance industry’s practices for refusing claims. Fingerprints on those casings, as well as a water bottle and granola bar found at the scene, match Mangione’s, according to police.

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A Reddit account believed to belong to Mangione discussed suffering chronic back pain, including a misaligned spine for which he received surgery, as well as irritable bowel syndrome and other ailments.

First-degree murder charges in New York require specific aggravating factors and are only doled out in exceptional circumstances, such as when a defendant is accused of killing a police officer or trial witness, carrying out contract killings, or committing acts of terrorism.

“The statute talks about attempts to influence or coerce a civilian population, the statute talks about intending to influence a policy of government, and it talks about seeking to put forth things sort of similar to that by murder. So the plain language of the statute is clear,” said Bragg. “In the middle of Midtown, the beginning of a busy day. Tourists, commuters, business people. The intent was to sow terror.”

Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on separate weapons and forgery charges in that state. New York prosecutors are seeking to have him extradited, something Mangione is presently challenging, though that’s subject to change. He is due back in court on Thursday, Dec. 19.