A man arrested over the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson was found with a “handwritten” manifesto, the commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has said.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, was detained at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a tip-off from an employee, according to police.
He was found carrying a “handwritten document” – described in earlier reporting as a “manifesto” – which “speaks to both his motivation and mindset”, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told a press conference on Monday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said that from the document, it appeared the suspect had “some ill will towards corporate America”.
However, he said there did not appear to be any “specific threats” to other people in the document.
Officials said the suspect, who was arrested around 280 miles away from the New York shooting, also had a fake ID matching ID used to check into the gunman’s hostel before the attack.
He also had a “ghost gun” capable of firing 9mm rounds – and possibly made from a 3D printer – as well as a silencer, which matched the type of weapon used in the shooting.
Pic: NYPD
Brian Thompson shooting – what we know
Mr Mangione, who was born and raised in Maryland and has links to California and Hawaii’s capital Honolulu, was taken to a local police station for questioning.
Detectives from the NYPD are currently en route to Pennsylvania to question him, according to Mr Kenny.
Mr Thompson was shot dead by a masked gunman outside a Manhattan hotel on Wednesday morning, while he was on the way to the company’s annual conference.
Footage showed the attacker walking up slowly behind Mr Thompson and opening fire outside the Hilton hotel in what New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described as a “premeditated, preplanned targeted attack”.
Shell casings found at the scene where the executive was killed had “deny,” “delay” and “depose” written on them.
Police searching Central Park. Pic: AP
A map showing the suspected gunman’s movements after the shooting of Brian Thompson
The gunman fled on foot, then on a bike into Central Park, New York City police have said, as they launched a citywide manhunt.
In the park, detectives found a grey rucksack they believe he used, containing bank notes from the Monopoly board game, as well as a jacket which may have been worn by the gunman, NBC said on Sunday, quoting sources.
The man took a taxi to an Upper Manhattan bus station from where he could travel to New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC, New York’s chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, said on Sunday.
New CCTV has emerged showing a suspect coming out of a nearby subway station. It is said to have been filmed at 6.15am – about half an hour before the shooting on Wednesday.
A police officer stands near the scene. Pic Reuters
Police divers search Central Park. Pic: AP
In the video clip, taken from cigar shop Davidoff of Geneva on Sixth Avenue, the man can be seen walking up some stairs to street level.
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It’s about three minutes’ walk from where Mr Thompson was killed, outside his company’s annual investor meeting at a hotel near Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Centre in midtown Manhattan.
The gunman travelled to the city by bus from Atlanta, and investigators are searching for video from that bus station and others along the Greyhound Bus route, three sources close to the investigation told NBC.
