US prosecutors have announced they will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
Federal Prosecutors Pursue Capital Punishment
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the decision in a statement on Tuesday, describing the crime as a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination.”
Thompson was shot outside a New York hotel on December 4. Days later, authorities apprehended Mangione, 26, in Pennsylvania following a nationwide manhunt.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges and has yet to enter a plea for separate federal charges. He remains in custody at a New York prison, awaiting trial.
A Crime of Political Violence?
In her press release, Bondi characterized Thompson’s murder as “an act of political violence” that “may have posed a grave risk to additional persons.”
Investigators suggest Mangione was motivated by deep-seated anger toward US healthcare insurance companies.
His defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, condemned the federal decision, calling it “barbaric” and accusing the government of “defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry.”
“While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the premeditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi,” she said in a statement.
Multiple Charges and Parallel Legal Proceedings
Mangione faces 11 state charges in New York, including first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism. If convicted, he would receive a mandatory life sentence without parole.
Federal prosecutors have separately charged him with using a firearm to commit murder and interstate stalking resulting in death—offenses that qualify him for the death penalty.
Both state and federal cases will proceed concurrently, according to prosecutors.
Timeline of Events Leading to the Murder
Brian Thompson, 50, became CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private health insurer in the US, in April 2021. On December 4, he was shot in the back by a masked gunman while entering a hotel hosting an investors’ meeting for his company.
Authorities revealed Mangione had arrived in New York on November 24, staying in a Manhattan hostel under a fake ID for ten days before executing the attack.
Police captured Mangione five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying a ghost gun—an untraceable firearm—along with a fake ID, a passport, and a handwritten document outlining his “motivation and mindset.”
The Broader Impact: Healthcare Debate and Domestic Extremism
Thompson’s killing has ignited debate over the US healthcare system, with many Americans voicing frustration over costly and often restrictive insurance policies.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressed concerns about the online discourse following the murder, calling it “extraordinarily alarming.”
“It speaks of what is really bubbling here in this country, and unfortunately, we see that manifested in violence—domestic violent extremism,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.