No indications CEO slaying suspect was UnitedHealthcare client, police say | Brian Thompson shoots

There is no indication that the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was ever a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said Thursday .

Joseph Kenny, Chief of Detectives for the New York Police Department, told NBC New York in an interview on Thursday that investigators had uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge that UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City.

Mangione also mentioned the company in a note found in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania.

“We have no indication that he was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare, but he mentions that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that may be why he targeted that company ,” Kenny said.

UnitedHealth Group — the company that owns the health care company — also said it had no indication Mangione was insured by them.

Mangione remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after being spotted at a McDonald’s in the town of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 km) west of New York City. His lawyer said he had yet to see any evidence linking his client to the crime.

Mangione’s arrest came five days after the killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel was caught on camera.

Police say the shooter was waiting outside the hotel where United Healthcare was holding its investor conference in the early morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him before fleeing on a bicycle through Central Park and then on his way to a bus depot.

Mangione is fighting efforts to extradite him back to New York to face murder charges for Thompson’s murder. A hearing is scheduled for December 30.

The 26-year-old, who police say was found with a “ghost gun” matching shell casings found at the scene of the shooting, has been charged in Pennsylvania with possession of a firearm without a license, forgery and false identification to police. His attorney, Thomas Dickey, said his client is not guilty.

Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. On Wednesday, police said investigators are looking into an accident that injured Mangione’s back and sent him to the emergency room in July 2023. Kenny described it as a “life-changing injury.”

In posts on social media, Mangione described undergoing back surgery last year to relieve chronic back pain and advised people with similar conditions to push back against doctors who suggested they live with pain.

Police are also looking into his writings about the injury and his criticism of corporate America and the American health care system.

Little is known about Mangione’s mental state in recent months, but it appears he withdrew from close relationships. Kenny said in the NBC interview that Mangione’s family had reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.

The Associated Press contributed to this story