December 4, 2024, marked the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old data scientist, traveled by bicycle and strategically placed himself between two cars on West 54th Street in New York; as Thompson passed him, Mangione fired a nine-millimeter pistol with a silencer. After allegedly firing the shot, Mangione fled the scene. This event led to an uprising of frustration with the U.S. healthcare system, with anger emerging among Americans directly harmed by the healthcare system.
“I’ve seen both sides of the argument for and against Mangione. One side says it’s murder and it’s wrong either way. The other side supports the killing of the CEO because of how many lives he had taken through his health insurance. I understand both sides and I can see why people are justifying it, to a degree. Either way, I believe murder is wrong,” sophomore Jasmine Kihara said.
Mangione’s life before the crime showed a bright and promising future. He received an education from Gilman School and earned the title of valedictorian. He then continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania, becoming an Ivy League tech graduate with a computer science bachelor’s degree. In addition, he served as a head counselor at a pre-college program at Stanford University. Throughout his college years, Mangione involved himself in his community as he participated in his college Greek-life fraternity, served as a teaching assistant and co-founded the university’s Game Research and Development Environmental Club due to his passion for video-game creation.
Mangione suffers from spondylolisthesis, a bony defect in the spine that causes pain as the vertebrae slip out of alignment. This caused Mangione to suffer chronic pain, and he would post about his condition on Reddit, revealing his decision to receive an operation to help his condition in July 2023. Though he experienced medical trauma, his connection to UnitedHealthcare remains unclear, as he never used the company’s insurance.
18 days before the shooting, Mangione’s mother filed a missing persons report for Magione in San Francisco, stating that he grew distant from his friends and family in prior months. Upon Mangione’s arrest, authorities found a notebook in his possession that helped further the case. The notebook contained several pages where Mangione expressed his frustration with the U.S.’s healthcare system, claiming that US citizens pay the highest amount for healthcare, yet the U.S. ranks 42nd in life expectancy. Over time, Mangione’s isolation from friends and family indicated the deterioration of his state of mind. The alleged manifesto contained only 262 words and appeared as low-quality work, leading individuals such as Gurwinder Bhogal, a UK-based writer and internet personality to not believe that Mangione created the manifesto.
December 9, 2024, officials arrested Mangione in Allatoona, Pennsylvania while he sat at a McDonalds. Upon his arrest, Mangione began nervously trembling and provided false identification to the police, in addition to the 9-millimeter pistol and silencer in his possession. After his arrest December 4 and the latest court date, Mangione received one count of using a firearm to commit murder and one count of stalking through the use of interstate facilities, earning life in prison. The case receives further investigation by the New York Police Department and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force and awaits Mangione’s next court date February 21.
“I am seeing a lot of talk about the revolution that people think will happen because of Luigi Mangione, but I am not seeing the actions. People are saying we need a revolution but I’m not seeing people actually rise up and actually act on their words. They could write letters to representatives and so on for change but so few people are actually doing that,” magnet sophomore Skye Pierre said.
