What started as a lighthearted comment turned into a shocking revelation when customers and staff at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, identified Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“One of my friends — and I thought he was kidding — when the shooter … who they made the arrest on came in, he made a comment, ‘Well, that looks like the shooter from New York,’” a customer named Larry told Fox News. “But the group of us thought it was more of a joke, and we were kidding about it.”
The humor didn’t last. Larry said the realization set in when a McDonald’s employee confided that the man’s piercing eyes and thick eyebrows matched the surveillance images released by police. “It was like she got in her mind, ‘Oh my God, it’s the guy from New York,’” Larry recalled to the BBC.
The 26-year-old suspect, accused of shooting Thompson outside a Hilton Hotel in Manhattan over an alleged grudge against the healthcare industry, had been on the run for five days. While wearing a mask at the McDonald’s, Mangione occasionally lowered it to eat hash browns, giving customers and staff a better look.
The tip-off led to Mangione’s arrest, and he was charged with multiple offenses, including murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Court documents revealed he was found with “a black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer,” according to the complaint.
During his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse, Mangione fought his transfer to New York and shouted at reporters, “It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It’s lived experience!”
Denied bail, Mangione remains in custody as New York prosecutors prepare to bring him to trial. Detective Yousef Demes of the Midtown North Detective Squad presented evidence linking Mangione to surveillance footage showing the fatal shooting of Thompson, according to CNN.