Luigi Mangione faces first-degree murder charge in death of healthcare CEO

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the New York district attorney said on Tuesday.

Mangione faces various charges, including first-degree murder, and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which describes the killing as an act of "terrorism", Bragg said.

"The intent was to sow terror," New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, calling the shooting a "frightening, well-planned and targeted murder".

Mangione is scheduled to appear for a court hearing on 19 December over whether he will be extradited to New York on the charges, though Bragg suggested the suspect may not fight extradition.

"We have indications the defendant may waive that hearing," Bragg said.

The extradition proceeding is scheduled for the same day as Mangione's preliminary hearing on gun-related charges in Pennsylvania.

Appearing at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, both Bragg and New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch lambasted the public for praising Mangione in the wake of the 4 December shooting.

"In the nearly two weeks since Thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder," Ms Tisch said. "We don't celebrate murders and we don't lionise the killing of anyone."

In addition to murder, the suspect also faces weapons and forgery charges. If he is convicted on the most serious charges placed against him — first degree murder and second degree murder as an act of terrorism — Mangione could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Asked about the specific terrorism charges, Bragg replied that "in its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror".

Five days after Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was shot and killed, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a fake ID and so-called "ghost gun", police said.

His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, has said he has not seen evidence that links Mangione's gun with the crime.

New York prosecutors began to share evidence in their case against Mangione with a grand jury last week.

If extradited, the 26-year-old is likely to be held at Riker's Island or another New York prison.

Shutterstock Brian Thompson is smiling, pictured from just below his neck, wearing a blue collared shirt and a blue zip-up sweaterShutterstock

The evidence against Mangione includes a positive match of his fingerprints with those discovered at the crime scene, Commissioner Tisch said.

According to District Attorney Bragg, the suspect arrived in New York City on 24 November, staying in a Manhattan hostel using a fake ID before carrying out the attack against Thompson 10 days later.

In addition to the ghost gun — a gun assembled from untraceable parts — and fake ID, a passport and a handwritten document indicating "motivation and mindset" also were found on Mangione when he was arrested, police said.

During Tuesday's news conference announcing the New York charges, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny also described an interaction with the suspect's mother, who in November filed a missing person report for her son in San Francisco.

After the manhunt for the shooting suspect had begun, that report was flagged to authorities, who contacted Mangione's mother. According to Kenny, his mother said she did not identify her son as the suspect, but said "it might be something that she could see him doing".

Mangione was formally charged in Pennsylvania with forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of crime and providing a false identification to police.

While Mangione awaits his fate in the New York court system, he remains under maximum security at Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.

He has been denied bail. — BBC