- New York State slapped Luigi Mangione, 26, with a second-degree murder charge and two counts of criminal weapons charges in connection with the “ghost gun” that was found in his backpack when he was arrested in Altoona, Pa.
Luigi Mangione appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Tuesday where he did not agree to extradition to New York, kicking off a process that will require another warrant for him to face charges in New York. Judge David Consiglio denied bail in the meantime, a court spokesperson told Coins2Day. Mangione also now has defense counsel in the case.
Mangione was charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to an unsealed criminal complaint from New York. He is being held without bail in Pennsylvania, and authorities are seeking his extradition to face murder charges in Manhattan, according to a felony arrest warrant.
A decision on Mangione’s extradition and transportation out of the Pennsylvania suburbs is expected on Tuesday. Mangione is charged with murder in the second degree and stands accused of intentionally shooting Thompson in the torso and causing his death. He has also been charged for possessing a loaded firearm and silencer, and for using a false New Jersey driver’s license in the name of “Mark Rosario,” according to law enforcement.
Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., on Monday. The documents from New York show that he is being charged with Thompson’s murder, which took place outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4.
After Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania on Monday, he was widely believed to have been the shooter authorities were looking for because they found the fake ID that had been used to check into the hostel where the suspect was believed to have stayed in the days leading up to the killing.
The criminal complaint by detective Yousef Demes of the Midtown North Precinct cited video surveillance footage that showed Mangione shooting Thompson in the back. In the video, the man alleged to be Mangione points a gun with a silencer at Thompson and then fires it several times. When Altoona Police Department officers arrested Mangione they found a similar gun, according to Demes’s testimony in the complaint.
Critical to Demes’s case was the distinctive clothing the shooter wore, which allowed police officials to track him from the crime scene to the hostel and ultimately to the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where he was arrested.
The criminal complaint also charged Mangione with several weapons charges. Authorities charged Mangione with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione is alleged to have used what authorities refer to as a “ghost gun,” a weapon that is assembled from various parts and is nearly impossible for law enforcement to track. These weapons do not contain serial numbers. Oftentimes they can be purchased online and are made using 3D printers. The gun Mangione is alleged to have used is a semiautomatic pistol that fires nine-millimeter bullets.