2020 Engineering graduate Luigi Mangione was indicted for murder charges (Photo from Penn Engineering).
2020 Engineering graduate Luigi Mangione was charged with murder as an act of terrorism in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday.
Mangione was indicted on one count of first-degree murder “in furtherance of terrorism” and two counts of second-degree murder — one of which was charged as killing as an act of terrorism — along with eight additional charges related to criminal possession of a weapon and forgery during a press conference Tuesday. If convicted, the Penn alumnus faces a possible life sentence without parole.
The New York grand jury indictment was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg described the shooting as, “a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” NBC reported. He also said that the terrorism charges were warranted because Mangione’s actions “intended to evoke terror.”
According to his Pennsylvania attorney Thomas Dickey, Mangione will be pleading not guilty in both the New York and Pennsylvania cases.
The New York Police Department believed that Mangione’s actions were motivated by anger towards the health insurance industry and "corporate greed” according to a NYPD intelligence report obtained by CNN.
At the press conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch emphasized that the indictment marked one step closer to justice for Thompson’s family. Addressing the public support for Mangione, Tisch stated, “We do not celebrate acts of violence, nor do we glorify the killing of any individual.”
Last week, Deputy Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Jeffrey Kallberg condemned comments from Penn professor Julia Alekseyeva whose social media posts last week seemingly celebrated Mangione’s actions.
“I have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of P3nnsylvania,” Alekseyeva wrote in a post on TikTok. She also shared a post from 34th Street Magazine on her Instagram story about Mangione, referring to him as the “icon we all need and deserve.”
Kallberg wrote, “Her comments regarding the shooting of Brian Thompson in New York City were antithetical to the values of both the School of Arts and Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania, and they were not condoned by the School or the University.”
Mangione is currently being held in a Pennsylvania prison on charges of illegal gun possession and forgery after being arrested on Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pa. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to sign papers requesting Manigone’s extradition to New York, where he will face indictment.
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