MANHATTAN (CN) — Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of carrying out the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel last week, told a Pennsylvania judge Tuesday afternoon that he contests his transfer from the Keystone State to face Manhattan criminal charges that include one count of second degree murder.
Mangione’s transfer was the subject of an extradition hearing at the Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, where he has been detained since was arrested on firearms charges by Pennsylvania state police on Monday morning.
He was arrested five days after Thompson’s fatal shooting after he was recognized by a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, nearly 300 miles away from New York City, as a person of interest in the nationally reported brazen killing.
A lawyer for Mangione, who wore an orange prison jumpsuit during the court appearance, said he did not consent to waiving his right to extradition hearing, commencing a process that will require New York Governor Kathy Hochul of New York to formally request formal extradition from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Pennsylvania authorities charged Mangione on counts of forgery; possession of an unlicensed firearm; identification tampering; possession of an instrument of crime; and false identification to law enforcement officers.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office issued a warrant for Mangione’s arrest late Monday evening and charged him on five criminal counts: murder in the second degree, three weapons counts and criminal forgery.
Additional charging documents will remain sealed until Mangione is formally arraigned in New York criminal court.
Midtown shooting caught on camera
The New York Police Department circulated surveillance camera images of the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting of Thompson, the chief executive officer of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, on Wednesday morning outside the midtown Manhattan hotel where the company was holding its annual investor conference.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was arrested with a 9mm ghost gun with no serial number, which officials believe may have been 3D printed, along with a silencer and three-page handwritten manifesto confession.
Surveillance video footage of the shooting appeared to show that the handgun to kill Thompson was augmented with a sound suppressor extension commonly referred to as a silencer.
Kenny said evidence suggests Mangione harbored “ill will toward corporate America.”
According to the Manhattan arrest warrant, Mangione presented a forged New Jersey’s driver license bearing the name Mark Rosario when he checked into an Upper West Side hostel prior to the shooting. The ID was later found during his arrest in Pennsylvania.
At a press conference Monday, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione was carrying also carrying a passport and other fraudulent IDs when he was arrested at the McDonald’s.
Multiple news outlets reported that the killer had written words on bullet casings that he left at the scene: “deny,” “depose,” and “defend,” which drew comparisons to the title of a 2010 book critical of the health insurance industry, titled “Delay Deny Defend.”
“Delay, deny, defend” has effectively become rallying cry for detractors of the industry. The terms refer to insurers delaying payment on claims, denying claims and defending their actions.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate software engineer, was raised in Maryland, but had recently been living in Hawaii.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the New York City prosecutors will seek a governor’s warrant to secure Mangione’s extradition to Manhattan.