Luigi Mangione had bus ticket to Pittsburgh after shooting of CEO
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Luigi Mangione at the Manhattan Supreme Court with his attorney during a hearing on Dec 4.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – Hours after Mr Brian Thompson was fatally shot in New York City on Dec 4, 2024, Luigi Mangione had a ticket for a bus that arrived in Pittsburgh just before midnight, according to evidence recovered by the police when he was arrested days later.
At a hearing in a New York courtroom on Dec 4, prosecutors displayed a photo of a crumpled bus ticket taken from Mangione’s pockets by the police who arrested him on Dec 9, 2024, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after an intense five-day manhunt.
The ticket bore the name “Sam Dawson”. The police also recovered a train ticket, on the Philadelphia regional rail system, that had a 1.06pm time stamp.
The authorities had not previously disclosed that Mangione ended up in Pittsburgh on the same day that Mr Thompson, a UnitedHealth Group executive, was gunned down at about 6.45am (7.45pm Singapore time) outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The high-profile shooting – caught on security cameras – raised questions about how the only suspect was able to get out of the city and evade the police for days.
Prosecutors displayed photos of the tickets – and dozens of other items seized from Mangione – at a hearing in New York state court exactly one year after Mr Thompson was shot.
His lawyers are seeking to convince a judge that the Altoona police improperly questioned Mangione, who faces murder charges in separate state and federal cases
At the hearing, prosecutors offered an array of videos taken from body cameras by officers who reported to a McDonald’s when an employee called to say Mangione matched the description of the suspect put out by the New York Police Department.
Officers approached Mangione as he sat at the back of the restaurant while he was eating hash browns and a steak breakfast sandwich. They questioned him for 18 minutes before telling him he was under investigation for giving the police a phony driver’s licence with the name of Mark Rosario.
After initially giving the alias, officers warned Mangione he could be charged with a crime if he did not give his true name. Mangione then told them his name and birth date, and the police asked why he lied about his identity.
“I clearly shouldn’t have,” he responded.
The police then read Mangione his Miranda rights against self-incrimination. They handcuffed Mangione, who stood expressionless for several minutes as about a dozen officers entered the restaurant.
‘So many cops?’
Six minutes after he was handcuffed, Mangione said: “Can I ask why there’s so many cops here?”
Some of the testimony and video focused on Mangione’s bag, which contained a 3D-printed 9-millimeter gun
The police also found a diary that prosecutors say show that he intended to shoot a healthcare executive.
A ruling that the bag was improperly searched would be a key win for defence lawyers and could deprive the New York District Attorney’s Office of potentially key evidence. But prosecutors say that the Altoona police properly questioned Mangione and the search of the bag was not improper.
According to the video shown at the hearing, after Mangione was handcuffed, two officers searched his backpack at an adjoining table. One officer asked: “Anything in that bag we need to know about?” He stood silent.
He was taken to the police station and eventually led into a holding cell. An officer who testified, Mr Tyler Frye, said that in the car, Mangione asked for the names of his partner and him, while apologising for the inconvenience.
“I said the fake ID was a bit ridiculous,” Mr Frye testified.
When prosecutors finished, defence attorney Jacob Kaplan repeatedly asked Mr Frye about the precise aspects of the questioning at the McDonald’s, the examination of Mangione’s backpack and events at the police station.
Mr Kaplan asked, for instance, about the crowd of officers in the restaurant after Mangione was told he was under investigation for making a potentially false statement.
“Did any of the 10 officers give the man his Miranda warning?” Mr Kaplan asked. “Not at this time,” Mr Frye said.
Mr Kaplan also emphasised that Mangione complied with the officers’ requests and never resisted their directions. Mr Frye agreed. BLOOMBERG
