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Luigi Mangione is expected to waive his right to extradition hearing over New York murder charges, his lawyer said.
A 26-year-old man has been charged with murder for an “act of terrorism” in the killing of a UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompsonand is scheduled to appear in court at Pennsylvania on Thursday.
He could be returned to New York as early as tomorrow, ABC reported.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting a 50-year-old health care executive on the streets of Midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec. 4, then eluding police for five days before being arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
He was found with a 9mm handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, a homemade silencer, two ammunition magazines and live cartridges, prosecutors said. He faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun in the Commonwealth.
The New York prosecutor’s office announced murder charges against him on Tuesday.
During Thursday’s hearing, a judge must accept his waiver, after which he will be transferred from Pennsylvania to New York by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
“I’m ready to bring him back here and make sure justice is served,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
The suspected killer has hired high-profile attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo to defend him. Agnifilo previously worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, serving as a Chief Assistant District Attorney for seven years, before moving into private practice in 2021.
Mangione’s supporters continue to donate thousands of dollars to his “defense” fund. The anonymous “December 4th Legal Committee” fund has raised more than $140,000 in donations on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.
Thompson was shot as he walked to a hotel where Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare – the largest health insurer in the United States – was holding an investor conference.
The killing sparked a fiery outpouring of resentment against America’s health insurance companies, as Americans traded stories online and elsewhere about being denied coverage, left in limbo because doctors and insurers disagreed, and stuck with hefty bills.
The shooting also rattled the C-suite, as “wanted” posters bearing the names and faces of other healthcare executives appeared on the streets of New York, and some social media users hailed Mangione’s act as revenge.
In announcing the murder charges on Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a homicide intended to cause terror. And we saw that reaction.”
More to come…