Luigi Mangione says ‘I shot Mr Thompson’ and pleads guilty on federal charges linked to healthcare CEO’s killing

Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, telling the judge: “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died.”

Mangione said that “after years of enduring severe back pain, a broken back, navigating the obstacles of the health system,” he learned that UnitedHealthcare would be holding it’s annual investor convergence in December 2024. The location was not public but he traveled to New York City and emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership, posing as an institutional investor, to get more information, getting a response within an hour.

He also researched who would be attending. Mangione then said he printed a gun with a 3-D printer and affixed it with a silencer. “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” he continued. “When I did so, I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or serious bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal.”

Judge Margaret Garnett accepted the plea and will sentence Mangione on 18 December. He faces life in prison.

Mangione, 28, entered the plea at a hastily scheduled hearing in Manhattan federal court this morning, resolving one of two cases against him in connection with Thompson’s killing. With this guilty plea, his lawyers could seek to have the state case – for which he has pleaded not guilty to murder and is scheduled to go on trial next month – thrown out on double jeopardy grounds.