Luigi Mangione, a “strong person of interest” in last week’s slaying of a health insurance executive outside a Manhattan hotel, has ties to San Francisco and Stanford University.
The 26-year-old was detained by police Monday at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania for questioning in Wednesday’s shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, The New York Times reported. He was charged with murder in connection with Thompson’s killing late Monday night, according to online court records.
Mangione had a gun believed to be the one used in the killing and writings suggesting his anger with corporate America, police officials said. A police criminal complaint charged him with forgery, carrying firearms without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing an instrument of crime and providing false identification to law enforcement. He will most likely be transferred to a Pennsylvania state prison this evening, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives, described Mangione as born and raised in Maryland, with ties to San Francisco, and says he lived until recently in Honolulu. He has no known criminal record in New York, Kenny said. He is related to Republican Maryland House of Delegates member Nino Mangione, reports the Baltimore Sun, and attended Baltimore’s Gilman School, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class in 2016.
In a statement posted to Nino Mangione’s Facebook Monday night, the family said it is “devastated” by the news about Luigi.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione. We only know what we have read in the media,” the statement read. “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”
Mangione’s connection to San Francisco remains unknown, but public records suggest he may have relatives in the city. The shooter is suspected of wearing a backpack designed in San Francisco.
Mangione’s mother, Kathleen Mangione, reported him missing to the San Francisco Police Department on Nov. 18, according to a police source with knowledge of the case. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had been in San Francisco or if she had a reason to believe that he was.
According to posts on his Instagram page, Mangione appears to have lived in Honolulu at a co-living and working hostel called Surfbreak. The company did not respond to The Standard’s request for comment. Records show Mangione has no criminal or civil cases in San Francisco or Santa Clara County superior courts.
Mangione’s profile on X features a photo of what appears to be an X-ray of a spine after an operation to install a plate and several screws.
An orthopedic surgeon at the University of Southern California, who asked not to be named due to privacy concerns, identified the procedure shown as a lumbar spinal fusion and said the patient in the image appears to have a degenerative disc disease.
Sarah Nehemiah, a spokesperson for people who lived at Surfbreak with Mangione, told The Standard that the 26-year-old moved to the island around January 2022 but ultimately left a few months later to seek treatment for a “lifelong back injury.”
“It was our understanding that he left due to a lifelong back injury that was exacerbated by surfing and hiking,” Nehemiah said. “To our knowledge, nearly all members of Surfbreak from his tenure lost contact after he left.”
A member of Mangione’s fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania said the last time they spoke was in February 2023, when Mangione mentioned that he had suffered a spinal injury, The New York Times reports.
On social media, some are speculating that the X-ray image could relate to the motive for Thompson’s killing.
A LinkedIn page that matches Mangione’s name and photo says he taught AI courses to high schoolers at Stanford’s summer camp in 2019. A spokesperson for Stanford confirmed his employment between May and September of 2019. His most recent employer is listed as Santa Monica-based TrueCar.
“While we generally don’t comment on personnel matters, we can confirm that Luigi Mangione has not been an employee of our company since 2023,” a spokesperson said via email.
Mangione appears to have briefly written a Wordpress blog tagged “Stanford AI” in 2015. The username on the blog, “Inmangione,” matches the username on a Linktree page in his Twitter bio.
GoFundMe campaigns created Monday purport to raise funds for Mangione’s legal defense. “Luigi has risked everything to stand up to corporations that are destroying American lives. It is our duty to support this man,” reads one created by Gilbert Yee. Many of the fundraisers had been taken down from the platform as of Monday afternoon.
Mangione leaves a substantial internet record in his wake, from book reviews on Goodreads to ideological tweets to public photos of family and friends on Instagram.
His book preferences reveal he’s long been fascinated with societal ills. His favorite book is “What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies” by comic philosopher Tim Urban of the website Wait But Why.
Mangione gave Ted Kaczynski’s book “Industrial Society and Its Future” four out of five stars, writing that the man known as the Unabomber was “rightfully imprisoned” for “maiming innocent people” but noting that his actions were “those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
Mangione’s social media accounts paint a picture of a tech enthusiast with a soft spot for conservative thinkers. He has retweeted posts from right-wing capitalists like Peter Thiel and lists an applauding biography of Elon Musk as one of his favorites on GoodReads.
A video titled “The Truth” was posted to YouTube shortly before 12 p.m. from an account bearing the same @PepMangione username as his X account. The video shows a countdown timer and states, “If you see this, I’m already under arrest,” then adds, “All is scheduled, be patient. Bye for now.” The one-minute, 24-second video ends with a single word: “Soon.”
The account, made in January, had a profile photo of Mangione holding a McDonald’s Happy Meal box. The video was the account’s only post, and the Internet Archive shows no other activity on the account. The authenticity of the account and the video as belonging to Mangione could not be verified by The Standard. The video and account have since been terminated.
Mangione’s X posts espouse “trad” values like a return to Christianity, regulating pornography, and banning fleshlights. He shows an interest in the adjacent subculture of “biohacking,” retweeting posts from Andrew Huberman, the host of the popular health podcast “Huberman Lab,” and listing Michael Pollan’s books on diet and psychedelics among his favorites on GoodReads, alongside self-help favorites like “Atomic Habits” and “Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body.”
His X account shows an affection for AI — he boasts that he wrote his high school thesis on “topics ranging from conscious artificial intelligence to human immortality” — but his embrace of technology appears to end at social media.
He has retweeted several posts decrying the influence of social media and praising “The Anxious Generation,” a bestseller by Jonathan Haidt about how the technology is damaging young people’s mental health.
Replies to his X account appear to show that friends have been concerned about Mangione’s whereabouts, with pleas from followers asking him to contact them as they had not heard from him in months. Some of the posts date to around six months ago; others are as recent as the end of October.
“Hey man I need to you to call me,” reads one post from July 9. “But I haven’t heard from you in months. Your made commitments to me for my wedding and if you can’t honor them I need to know so I can plan accordingly.”
An Instagram story posted Monday shows a photo of Mangione posing with a friend. The caption reads, “Please call back bro.”
“Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy,” a UnitedHealthcare statement said Monday. “We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation. We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn.”