According to two people familiar with the situation, federal prosecutors are considering charging Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of United Healthcare’s CEO, NBC News said Wednesday.
According to the sources, the New York state murder case against Mangione would take precedence if federal charges were brought.
In the targeted shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot from behind as he strolled on a Manhattan sidewalk on December 4, Mangione, 26, was indicted on Tuesday on first-degree murder and other charges.
According to New York police, Mangione singled out Thompson, presumably due to the magnitude of the private health insurance business he oversaw. The biggest private health insurer in the US is called United Healthcare.
Along with charges of second-degree murder and other offenses, Mangione was charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.
A specific circumstance beyond intent is required for a first-degree murder charge in New York, such as the murder of a witness, a murder-for-hire, a police officer, or a murder committed in support of terrorism.
On Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated that Thompson’s ambush death was “intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.”
According to Bragg, Magione waited for Thompson to come for almost an hour at a hotel while wearing a mask and a hooded jacket. At approximately 6:45 a.m., she shot Thompson from behind with a 9mm handgun that had a suppressor.
Following the murder, New York police and the FBI released surveillance photographs that identified Mangione, who was apprehended on December 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
He has so far opposed being extradited to New York and is currently being detained in jail in Pennsylvania. There will be a hearing on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment.
The New York Police Department and FBI representatives likewise chose not to comment.
According to Bragg, Mangione could spend up to life in jail without the possibility of release if found guilty of either first-degree murder or second-degree murder as an act of terrorism. According to him, the maximum penalty for a conviction on a standard charge of second-degree murder is 25 years to life in prison.
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