NEW YORK: The man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was never a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said Thursday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City.
Mangione also mentioned the company in a note found in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania.
“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest health care organization in America. So that’s possibly why he targeted that that company,” said Kenny.
Mangione remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after being spotted at a McDonald’s in the city of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City. His lawyer there said he hasn’t seen any evidence yet linking him to the crime.
Mangione’s arrest came five days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.
Police say the shooter waited outside the hotel, where the health insurer was holding its investor conference, early on the morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him before fleeing on a bicycle through Central Park, then heading to a bus depot.
Mangione is fighting attempts to extradite him back to New York so that he can face a murder charge in Thompson’s killing. A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 30.
The 26-year-old, who police say was found with a ” ghost gun ” matching shell casings found at the site of the shooting, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, said his client is not guilty.
Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. On Wednesday, police said investigators are looking into an accident that injured Mangione’s back and sent him to an emergency room in July 2023. They’re also looking at his writings about the injury and his criticism of corporate America and the US health care system.
Kenny said in the NBC interview that Mangione’s family reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.
Police say suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing wasn’t a client of the insurer
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Police say suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing wasn’t a client of the insurer
- Mangione’s arrest came five days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel
Australia hits Afghan Taliban officials with sanctions, travel bans
- The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom
- The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said
SYDNEY: Australia on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan’s Taliban government over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law” in the Taliban-run country.
Australia was one of several nations which in August 2021 pulled troops out of Afghanistan, after being part of a NATO-led international force that trained Afghan security forces and fought the Taliban for two decades after Western-backed forces ousted the Islamist militants from power.
The Taliban, since regaining power in Afghanistan, has been criticized for deeply restricting the rights and freedoms of women and girls through bans on education and work.
The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom.
Wong said in a statement the sanctions targeted three Taliban ministers and the group’s chief justice, accusing them of restricting access for girls and women “to education, employment, freedom of movement and the ability to participate in public life.”
The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said.
Australia took in thousands of evacuees, mostly women and children, from Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power in the war-shattered South Asian country, where much of the population now relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
