Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing healthcare boss Brian Thompson, could be given the death penalty. Mangione shot Thompson in the back while on the victim was on his way to an investors’ meeting in New York on December 4.
He had railed about the healthcare industry in a manifesto before he allegedly shot the 50-year-old dad-of-two. The defendant appeared in court in December to be arraigned on 11 state criminal counts, including murder in furtherance of terrorism.
And the 26-year-old could now face the death penalty, the US Justice department has confirmed.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said: “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America. After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
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Bondi said as the killing took place in the middle of New York City in broad daylight the alleged killer “may have posted grave risk of death to additional persons.”
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges and has yet to enter a plea for separate federal charges.
He is currently awaiting trial in a New York federal prison.
Bondi said Mr Thompson’s murder “was an act of political violence” and that it “may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons” nearby, the press release said.
Investigators have said Mangione was motivated to kill the CEO due to anger with US health insurance companies.
He is facing 11 state criminal counts in New York, including first-degree murder and murder as a crime of terrorism, but he has also been separately charged for using a firearm to commit murder and interstate stalking resulting in death – making him eligible for the death penalty.
Mangione is yet to enter a plea on those charges.
(Image: Getty Images)
Prosecutors said the federal and state cases will move forward in parallel.
The death penalty is usually given to those convicted of large-scale drug trafficking, mass murder, espionage, treason or other serious offences.
Current offenders on death row include Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 people in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, Dylan Roof, a white supremacist who murdered nine people in the Charleston church shooting, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who killed three people and injured hundreds of others in the Boston Marathon bombing.
Mangione has gained a huge cult following, mostly among young women, since his arrest in a Pennsylvania McDonalds. He has also received sympathy from those who resent large health-insurance companies.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document expressing “ill will” towards corporate America.