Luigi Mangione charged with three counts of murder, including murder ‘as an act of terrorism’

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of assassinating a healthcare CEO, has now been charged with “murder as an act of terrorism”.

The man accused of assassinating health insurance CEO Brian Thompson on a street in New York City has now been charged with committing “murder as an act of terrorism”.

The upgraded charges against 26-year-old Luigi Mangione were announced, today, by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“Luigi Mangione, the defendant, is charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree, including one count of murder in the second degree as an act of terrorism, for the brazen, targeted and premeditated shooting of Brian Thompson,” Mr Bragg said.

“This type of premeditated, targeted gun violence cannot and will not be tolerated, and my office has been working day in and day out to bring the defendant to justice.”

In addition to the murder counts, Mangione faces eight gun-related charges.

The terrorism charge derives from section 490.25 of New York’s penal code.

“A person is guilty of a crime of terrorism when, with intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping, he or she commits a specified offence,” the code states.

The triggering offence, in this case, would be second-degree murder.

The shooting’s victim, Brian Thompson, was the CEO of health insurance company UnitedHealthcare. The 50-year-old leaves behind a wife and two children.

He was shot in the back outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown on the morning of December 4. Mangione was arrested across the border, in Pennsylvania, five days later.

Luigi Mangione. Picture: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections/AFP

Mangione outside a courthouse in Pennsylvania. Picture: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images via AFP

Police have said their working theory for the alleged shooter’s motive involves his animosity towards the health insurance industry. While Mangione was not a customer of Mr Thompson’s company, UnitedHealthcare, though he had undergone spinal surgery in 2023 to deal with persistent back pain.

According to law enforcement, he wrote a note recovered after the attack, in which he lamented America having the “most expensive healthcare system in the world” and ranking relatively low in life expectancy, despite being among the world’s wealthiest countries.

The note accuses large corporations of abusing the United States for profit and acting like “mafiosa that have gotten too powerful”.

Brian Thompson. Picture: UnitedHealth Group/AFP

Video footage of the moment before Mr Thompson was shot. Picture: NY Post

Bombshell poll shows support for CEO’s murder

Meanwhile, a rather stunning poll has shown that a plurality of young Americans believe the vigilante killing of Mr Thompson was either “completely” or “somewhat” justified.

The poll of a thousand Americans, by Emerson College, asked a simple question: “Do you think the actions of the killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO are acceptable or unacceptable?” Respondents were given five choices, ranging from completely unacceptable, to somewhat unacceptable, to neutral, to somewhat acceptable, to completely acceptable.

Emerson broke down the results by age group. The younger you go, the lower the “unacceptable” tally gets. But in every cohort bar one, a majority of respondents either said the murder was completely or somewhat unacceptable.

Then we look at people aged 18-29. A third of respondents in that group said it was completely unacceptable, and 7 per cent said somewhat, for a total of 40 per cent. There’s a 19 per cent chunk in the middle who stayed neutral.

Then we have 17 per cent who called the killing completely acceptable, and 24 per cent who said it was somewhat acceptable, for a total of 41 per cent.

The results from Emerson's poll.

These are staggering numbers!

To reiterate: a man who had been accused of no crime, whatever you might think of his career, was shot in the back on a Manhattan street by another member of the public. And 60 per cent of America’s young people either approve of that act, or have no opinion on it.

Trump slams Americans for praising alleged shooter

Yesterday, US President-elect Donald Trump addressed the phenomenon of some Americans lionising the alleged assassin, Mangione.

Since he was arrested, donations have poured in to fund his legal defence, with some supporters describing the alleged murder as “justifiable”. Other Americans have been venting their frustration at the country’s health insurance system, accusing insurance companies of seeking any excuse to deny legitimate claims.

During a press conference, Mr Trump was asked for his thoughts on the “reaction” surrounding Mangione, who has also been held up in some quarters as a sort of bizarre sex symbol.

“I think it’s a terrible thing,” Mr Trump said.

“I think it’s really terrible that some people seem to admire him, like him.”

The incoming president said he was glad the response “wasn’t specific to this gentleman who was killed”, adding it was “an overall sickness as opposed to a specific sickness”.

“That was a terrible thing. it was cold-blooded … and how people can like this guy, that’s a sickness actually,” he said.

“That’s really very bad, especially the way it was done – it was so bad – right in the back.

“But it seems there’s a certain appetite for him, I don’t get it.”