Steven Hirsch for the NY Post
Luigi Mangione Told Jail Officer He ‘Wanted to Make a Statement’ During Health Care System Conversation
Luigi Mangione allegedly said he “wanted to make a statement” during a conversation with a jail officer about the healthcare system.
Thomas Rivers, who works as a corrections officer at a facility in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, said he and Mangione, 27, discussed healthcare when the shooting suspect was being held at the facility.
During a pre-trial hearing on Monday, December 1, Rivers testified he and Mangione had a discussion about the difference between nationalized and private healthcare. However, did not recall if Mangione shared his opinion on the topic.
“He said he wanted to make a statement to the public,” Rivers claimed, according to People, though the officer did not elaborate on what specifically Mangione wanted to make a statement on.
Mangione is charged with second-degree murder in New York State after he allegedly shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. The suspect is also facing a concurrent federal murder prosecution, which could result in the death penalty if he is convicted.
He has pleaded not guilty to both state and federal murder charges made against him.
Also during the December 1 hearing, Judge Gregory Carro heard the 911 call a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania made to report that the suspect was in the restaurant.
The restaurant’s manager placed the call at 9:14 am on December 9, 2024. She calmly told the 911 operator that she tried to call a nonemergency number but wasn’t able to get through.
“I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of and he looks like the CEO shooter from New York,” she said on the call, per CNN. “So they’re really upset and they’ve come to me.”
The manager went on to tell the dispatcher the man was sitting in the restaurant’s lobby and had a pharmacy bag in front of him. After noting that he was wearing a black jacket, a medical mask and a tan beanie, she said “the only thing you can see is his eyebrows.” The manager also told the dispatcher that the man was mid-height and mid-weight, and the dispatcher said that an officer was on the way.
Another bombshell made during the hearing was by SCI Huntingdon corrections officer Matthew Henry, who claimed Mangione told him he had a 3D printed gun and foreign currency in his backpack at the time of the December 2024 shooting, per CNN. Henry also testified that Mangione mentioned having a magazine of ammunition.
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