ALTOONA, Pennsylvania — For the first time, the public can view in its entirety the body camera footage documenting the arrest of Luigi Mangione inside a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024, five days after the murder of Brian Thompson, then CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
The footage, comprised of recordings from eight officers'
body cameras, was declassified this Friday by order of a New York judge, after
several media outlets requested its release. Some of the footage had already
been presented during a court hearing, but remained sealed.
The footage shows officers approaching Mangione, who was
sitting in the restaurant wearing a hat and a face mask. The officers ask him
to remove his face mask and then begin questioning him about his identity.
Mangione initially presented a New Jersey ID under the name
“Mark Rosario,” but eventually admitted to the officers that his real name was
Luigi Mangione.
During questioning, the police began to connect him to the
man wanted for the murder in Manhattan. Shortly after, an officer found a gun
magazine in his belongings, at which point the officers seemed to confirm they
had found the suspect they were looking for.
Mangione was handcuffed and taken to a police station, where
officers conducted a more thorough search of his backpack. There they found a 9mm
handgun, which prosecutors later linked to the murder, as well as a silencer,
ammunition, and a notebook with handwritten notes.
The images also show the police procedure following the
arrest and allow viewers to observe from different angles how the arrest
unfolded, ending a five-day manhunt.
The case is related to the murder of Brian Thompson, who was
shot on December 4, 2024, while on his way to a Manhattan hotel to attend an
investor conference for his company.
Mangione pleaded guilty in August to federal charges of
interstate stalking related to Thompson's death and admitted in federal court
that he had shot the executive. His federal sentencing is scheduled for
December.
At the same time, he still faces a murder trial in New York,
the continuation of which is currently the subject of a legal dispute.
The release of the video now offers an unprecedented look at
the minutes in which the manhunt for Mangione ended and the legal proceedings
began, keeping the case in the national spotlight in the United States.