Luigi Mangione Suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter

About

Luigi Mangione refers to the Suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter, the gunman who assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on December 4th, 2024. Luigi Mangione was detained at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania on December 9th. On his person, he reportedly had a manifesto, a fake ID and a "ghost gun" that matched the description of the firearm used to kill Thompson. Mangione notably received a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Science in Engineering from Penn State University. Initially, the assassin and main "person of interest" was unidentified. The shooter had escaped the scene of the crime outside of the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan, fleeing on an e-bike to Central Park. Both before and after his identity was revealed, the shooter was widely celebrated on social media sites like Twitter / X, TikTok and Reddit, often portrayed as a hero who challenged the perceivably corrupt American healthcare system. This positive perception was compounded when the words "Deny, Defend, Depose" were discovered on the bullet shell casings, in reference to the 2010 expose Delay, Deny, Defend. Photos of the shooter from CCTV cameras at a Starbucks and at an Upper West Side hostel (where he reportedly stayed) before the murder went viral on social media in the days following the event. Many also debated whether or not it was the same man as their jackets appeared different. Others raved about the suspect being attractive and thirsted over him in viral memes. After Mangione was detained in Altoona, the news went viral on social media, prompting a slew of memes and other reactions. After his mugshots were released, a conspiracy theory that Luigi Mangione was not the shooter spread online, largely focusing on his eyebrows seemingly being different from the ones on the suspect in the Manhattan Starbucks. Also, a campaign called Free Luigi Mangione was started online.

Background

According to the New York Post, Luigi Mangione is a 26-year-old from Towson, Maryland. He received a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Science in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn State). He was the valedictorian at the Gilman School in Baltimore when he graduated in 2016.^[1][2]

Back Injury

On December 9th, 2024, Barstool Sports' Jack Mac posted to X,^[18][19] claiming that he spoke with a source close to Luigi Mangione. The source said that Mangione badly injured his back while surfing in Hawaii. According to the source, the surgery didn't go well. It "changed everything" and he went "absolutely crazy." Mac's post received over 11,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Detainment

On December 9th, 2024, Luigi Mangione was detained at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. An elderly person reported him because he matched the description of the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter. On his person, police discovered a manifesto (reportedly related to gripes with the healthcare industry), a fake New Jersey ID (reportedly the same ID used at the UWS hostel) and a "ghost gun" that matched the description of the murder weapon.^[1]

Manifesto

On December 10th, 2024, independent journalist Ken Klipperstein shared a Substack ^[22] post publishing the official manifesto of Luigi Mangione (shown below). At the time, many fake manifestos were circulating online. Major news outlets had cited the manifesto but hadn't published it outright.

Klipperstein publicized the manifesto on his X^[23] account, receiving over 1.1 million views and 15,000 likes in a few hours.

Online History

Luigi Mangione's online presence quickly became a prominent topic around the internet after authorities unveiled his name in mid-December 2024. Mangione has a social media presence on Instagram^[3] as @luigi.from.fiji, on Twitter / X^[4] as @pepmangione and on Facebook.^[5] Many of his accounts, however, were privated or taken down in the hours following his reveal.

On X, he engaged with and promoted content from Elon Musk, Andrew Huberman and people in the crypto and AI sphere.

After he was detained, users engaged with some of his old tweets, like one reply he shared on X^[6] on May 24th, 2024. It read, "Pretty huge dick," when replying to another user asking about people who have PhDs. The tweet received over 2,600 likes in seven months (shown below). Many X^[12] users reposted the tweet and it went viral after Mangione was detained.

After May 2024, Mangione went dormant on social media. On December 9th, 2024, X^[20] user @ArmandDoma tweeted a screenshot of replies (which he anonymized) sent to Mangione. They were purportedly from friends and family who didn't know his whereabouts and expressed concern. The replies are no longer on X as the users likely made their accounts private.

Goodreads

Luigi Mangione was also an avid Goodreads^[13] user. A screenshot posted by X^[14] user @1234KYLE5678 on December 9th, 2024, shows that he posted 52 ratings and had shelved books like one from Elon Musk (shown below).

X^[15] user @1234KYLE5678 also shared a tweet including a screenshot of Mangione's Goodreads review of Ted Kaczynski's (the Unabomber) book Industrial Society and Its Futures (shown below).

Luigi Mangione also logged the book Life & The Lindy Effect by famed Twitter / X user Paul Skallas, also known as Lindy Man. X^[16] user @weedhitter posted the screenshot on December 9th (shown below), among other users on X.^[17]

It was also revealed by users on X^[18][21] that Mangione had read books about back pain and injury, like Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin and Back Mechanic by Dr. Stuart McGill. The Goodreads posts corroborated Jack Mac's source.

X^[21] user @morgan_sung was one of many on December 9th, 2024, who posted about Mangione's back injury as being a possible motive for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Her post gained over 42,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Online Presence

Leading up to Luigi Mangione's detainment, viral posts about the UHC shooter spread on social media following Brian Thompson's murder on December 4th, 2024. Many viral posts surfaced when images of the suspect in a Starbucks spread on social media. For instance, on December 4th, X^[7] user @violentlyepic tweeted, "There’s a real chance he’s hot," receiving over 95,000 likes in five days (shown below).

On December 5th, new unmasked photos of a "person of interest" were posted by the NYPD on X,^[8] gaining over 1,300 likes in a few hours (shown below). The photos were reportedly from an Upper West Side hostel where the suspect stayed.^[9]

Users began to comment about his appearance, like X^[10] user @mannyfidel tweeted, "oh no lol this app is about to fall apart," receiving over 288,000 likes in four days (shown below).

On December 9th, 2024, following the detainment of Luigi Mangione, viral posts ensued. For instance, on the day, X^[11] user @DarkLordeBryan joked about how Mangione was "too hot to convict," receiving over 22,000 likes in an hour (shown below).

Related Memes

Free Luigi Mangione

The #FreeLuigi campaign started after the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, on December 9th, 2024, for the alleged shot and murder of Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan on December 4th, 2024. The incident drew national attention, leading to a social media uproar, with many portraying Mangione as a hero challenging the perceived corruption in the American healthcare system.

Luigi Mangione Is Not the Shooter Conspiracy Theory

A conspiracy theory that Luigi Mangione was not the perpetrator spread online in December 2024. Theorists compared the eyebrows of each individual in the security camera photographs released by the NYPD amid its investigation. Many believed that Mangione's eyebrows started closer together compared to those of the suspect in the Starbucks on the morning of the murder. Others believed that Mangione wasn't the killer for other reasons, like the fact that he did not admit to the crimes when taken into custody. Others believed that the evidence on Mangione, when detained in the Altoona, PA McDonald's, was too obvious and could have been planted on him, possibly making him a scapegoat.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References