New details emerge about Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing health insurance CEO
New York prosecutors revealed a detailed timeline Tuesday of the steps the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took leading up to the shooting and how he eluded authorities for several days.
Officials unveiled the new timeline after Luigi Mangione 26, was indicted on 11 counts, including first-degree murder and murder as a crime of terrorism. According to prosecutors, the new details show how investigators tied Mangione to what they called the "brazen" killing in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4.
"This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters Tuesday. "The intent was to sow terror."
Here’s what we know from authorities about the days, and minutes, leading up to the attack:
Undercover arrival in New York City
Mangione, a Maryland native whose last known address was in Hawaii, arrived in New York City 10 days ahead of Thompson’s murder but used a fake identification card and mask to avoid being recognized, according to prosecutors.
The Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Baltimore-area family first arrived in the city on Nov. 24, taking a bus to the Port Authority, a Midtown bus terminal that services about 260,000 daily passengers. Mangione then traveled to the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side where he used a fake New Jersey ID to check in under the name Mark Rosario.
The ID Mangione used to check into the hostel was the same one he would later give to police at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, according to a criminal complaint. Initially, Altoona police arrested Mangione for attempting to use the fake ID, among other charges.
Mangione extended his stay at the hostel multiple times, according to investigators.
Up before dawn on the day of the murder
Mangione was up and out of the hostel well before dawn on Dec. 4, the day of the murder, prosecutors said. During Tuesday's news conference, prosecutors and authorities released a new timeline of the attack:
5:34 a.m. ET: Mangione left the Upper West Side hostel near 103rd Street and rode an e-bike around 3 miles south to Midtown.
5:52 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. ET: Mangione lingered outside the Hilton hotel on 54th Street in Midtown.
6:15 a.m. ET: Mangione purchased a water bottle and granola bars from a nearby Starbucks. Investigators later linked Mangione to the crime scene through fingerprints on the bottle and snack wrappers.
6:38 a.m. and 6:44 a.m. ET: Mangione waited on the north side of 54th Street across from the hotel. He was fully masked with his hood up.
6:45 a.m. ET: Thompson arrived and Mangione crossed the street. Prosecutors say Mangione then shot Thompson in the back and leg with a 3D-printed 9mm ghost gun equipped with a silencer. Mangione immediately fled north on an e-bike and later hailed a cab, which he took to 178th Street on the northern end of Manhattan Island. He then fled the state.
7:12 a.m. ET: Thompson was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Fake New Jersey ID
Mangione's week on the run came to an ignominious end at a McDonald's in Altoona on Dec. 9.
A customer spotted him wearing a mask and alerted staff who called 911, state police said.
Altoona police arriving at the McDonald's asked Mangione whether he had been to New York recently and when they did he grew quiet and began to shake, according to a criminal complaint filed by police.
When he was arrested, authorities recovered a 3D-printed 9mm handgun, two ammunition magazines, bullets, a homemade silencer in his backpack and the fake New Jersey ID used at the hostel, according to prosecutors.
(This story was updated to correct a name misspelling and add clarifying information.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police reveal details of timeline in Luigi Mangione murder case