As police continue to scour the history of the suspected shooter who gunned down an insurance CEO on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk, the NYPD said there is "no indication" he ever was a client of UnitedHealthcare.
In an exclusive interview with NBC New York, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said that Luigi Mangione may have targeted Brian Thompson the morning of Dec. 4 simply due to the size of the company and because he knew there was a conference taking place at the hotel that day.
"We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that's possibly why he targeted that that company," said Kenny. "He had prior knowledge that the conference was taking place on that date, at that location."
In his alleged writings, Mangione wrote about wanting to use a gun to target a CEO of a big corporation, like UnitedHeathcare, at a conference.
“What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents," writings inside a notebook believed to belong to him stated.
Kenny detailed more about the back injury and surgery Mangione went through.
"It seems that he had an accident that caused him to go to the emergency room back in July of 2023, and that it was a life-changing injury," said Kenny. "He posted X-rays of screws being inserted into his spine. So the injury that he suffered was, was a life-changing, life-altering injury, and that's what may have put him on this path."
Police have also learned more about the timeline of events for Mangione leading up to and after the deadly shooting, including new information about where he went in the immediate aftermath and how he got out of the city.
Kenny said that his family had filed a missing persons report with San Francisco authorities in November.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Mangione arrived in New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal on Nov. 24 aboard a bus that originated in Atlanta. Police are not sure when or where he boarded that bus, however.
After arriving in the city, Mangione got a taxi and "immediately goes to a McDonald's in the vicinity of the Hilton hotel," said Kenny. From there, he went to the hostel where he was staying until the day of the shooting he stands accused of. Kenny said Mangione "was coming and going on a regular basis" from the hostel, and was seen on security camera footage with an e-bike battery.
Some time shortly after he allegedly shot Thompson, Mangione took a cab up to Washington Heights, near the George Washington Port Authority Bus Terminal, according to Kenny.
"From there we have him. We believe he may have taken the subway back to Penn Station and then made his way to Philadelphia from there," the NYPD chief told NBC New York.
He may have been aboard an A or C train to get down to the midtown transit hub.
How Mangione got to Pittsburgh and then Altoona is still not known, but police know how he may have paid for his travels.
"As far as how he was getting by when he was arrested, he had a substantial amount of cash on him. He was getting money from an ATM, everything he did he was paying for in cash," Kenny said, noting it was "one large withdrawal from the bank itself."
Mangione had more than $5,000 in cash on him at the time of his arrest, all in $100 bills, according to Kenny. Where the withdrawal took place was still being investigated, though he was said to have paid in cash for all recent transactions.
Police have detailed some of the evidence they said links Mangione to the scene of the shooting, including fingerprints and ballistic evidence.
Roughly a half hour before the shooting, video from a Starbucks location in midtown Manhattan showed the masked-up killer buying a bottle of water and a KIND bar. Police said five fingerprints on a water bottle and and two fingerprints on a KIND bar wrapper found near the scene of the shooting matched Mangione's.
The gun found on the suspect when he was arrested Monday was sent to the NYPD, according to Tisch. The department confirmed there was a ballistics-related match as well, with shell casings from the scene of the shooting matching those found in the weapon.
"We brought [the gun] to our forensics laboratory, where we were able to match that gun to the three discharge shell casings were recovered at the scene. So it was a ballistics match," said Kenny.
While police said they got some DNA recovered from a cellphone believed to be Mangione's, they won't be able to compare it to anything until he is extradited back to NYC and they can get a court-ordered sample. They also have not been able to get into that cellphone found in an alleyway, according to Kenny.
Police have yet to speak with Mangione's family, though the family did release a statement earlier this week, saying in part, "We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news."
Mangione did not make any statements to members of the NYPD. He is next scheduled to appear in court on gun charges in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30th. Kenny said the NYPD hopes Mangione will be returned to NYC "within the next 30 days."
