One member of the group informed NBC News that Luigi Mangione, who was arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was formerly a member of an Ivy League gaming group that played assassins.
In the game “Among Us,” some players are covertly designated to be space killers who carry out various chores in an effort to allay other players’ suspicions.
Alejandro Romero, who was a member of the same Discord group and went to the University of Pennsylvania with Mangione, expressed his surprise on social media when word leaked out that Mangione had been arrested by the police.
“I just found it extremely ironic that, you know, we were in this game and there could actually be a true killer among us,” he stated.
“As soon as his photo and name popped up on X, my friend texted me asking if I knew him, and then either I was calling some 10 friends, or they were calling me,” Romero continued. “I didn’t speak to anybody today who wasn’t already aware of what had happened.”
Mangione, 26, was apprehended by authorities Monday morning after being noticed by a staff member at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
During a press conference, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated that police had discovered a handwritten letter on Mangione “that speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” as well as a pistol that was reportedly 3D printed.
According to officials, he was also in possession of a passport and counterfeit identification.
According to court filings, Mangione was charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, possession of a loaded firearm, and possession of a forged instrument in New York.
Mangione was accused by Pennsylvania authorities of carrying weapons without a license, forging, altering documents or identification, having criminal tools, and giving police a false identity.
One of the Mangione family members expressed their shock and sadness after Luigi’s detention in a statement that was put on Xon on Monday night.
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” Nino Mangione, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates, wrote in the post.
Romero claimed he hasn’t seen or spoken to Mangione since 2020 and characterized him as an ordinary college student who didn’t catch his attention.
Romero remarked, “He just fit a mold,” “He just seemed like any other normal frat dude that you could see at a frat party.”
The pandemic interrupted his last year of college. During their last semester, students were ejected from university and did not return for commencement.
The Discord group was one way to stay connected, Romero said, but members began to go their separate ways as they got full-time jobs or embarked on long trips.
During some of those years, Mangione left behind a digital footprint that included reviewing Industrial Society and Its Future, also known as the Unabomber Manifesto by Ted Kaczynski, on Goodreads, a platform for book reviews and recommendations. It served as the ideological reasoning for Kaczynski s yearslong mail bomb campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others.
Mangione became significantly more active on X in 2021 after five years of not posting or reposting content, according to a review of his account on the social media platform.
When asked about the change in Mangione’s online persona, Romero said that question is circulating among his friend group.
“I feel like people are unsure how to label him,” he said. “I’m personally struggling to understand how this all fits.”
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