UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting latest: Person of interest Luigi Mangione under arrest
NYPD
(NEW YORK) — Police are questioning 26-year-old Luigi Mangione in Altoona, Pennsylvania, as a person of interest in connection with the brazen Midtown Manhattan murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, according to authorities.
Mangione, from Maryland, has been arrested by Altoona police on unrelated gun charges, according to authorities.
He was on a Greyhound bus traveling through Altoona on Monday morning, sources said, when he got off and walked into a McDonald’s where a witness recognized him from the images of the suspect circulated by police.
Mangione was sitting and eating when a McDonald’s employee reported him, and “because of that, we believe we have a strong person of interest,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday.
“He matches the description of the person we are looking for,” Adams said.
Mangione had a ghost gun capable of firing a 9 mm round and a suppressor, police said.
Mangione was in possession of a handwritten document “that speaks to his motivation and mindset,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
“It does seem that he had some ill will toward corporate America,” police said.
Authorities are going through his writings more thoroughly to understand his motive.
He was also in possession of a fake New Jersey driver’s license similar to the one the suspect used to check into a hostel in New York City before the shooting, she said.
Tisch praised the “good old fashioned detective work” of the NYPD and the “power of the public” that led to the arrest.
Police said it appears he acted alone.
Police said they’re working to trace his movements from New York City to Pennsylvania.
Police said they did not have his name before now.
Meanwhile, new video obtained by ABC News shows the killer waiting for Thompson moments before the shooting.
The video shows others pass by, and then, when the masked gunman sees Thompson, he runs across the street and opens fire. The video, which has not previously been seen publicly, appears to support the police narrative that the shooter targeted Thompson because he loitered while others wandered by.
On Wednesday morning, the masked gunman shot Thompson at point-blank range outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson’s company was holding an investors conference. Tisch described the attack as “brazen” and “targeted.”
Right after the shooting, the suspect fled by bike through Central Park to the Upper West Side. He then took a taxi to the Port Authority bus facility at 178th Street and boarded a bus out of New York City, according to police.
On Sunday, members of the New York Police Department’s dive team searched underwater in Central Park near the Bethesda Fountain.
The suspect’s backpack — with a jacket and Monopoly money inside — was found nearby in Central Park.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson, Jon Haworth, Ivan Pereira and David Brennan contributed to this report.
(YEMASSEE, S.C.) — More than half of the rhesus macaque monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab have been recovered.
As of Monday evening, 30 of the 43 furry runaways, that broke loose Wednesday from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemasee, have now successfully been captured.
“Efforts to safely capture the remaining primates will continue throughout the evening and as long as necessary, ” a spokesperson for the Yemassee Police Department said.
A team of veterinarians, which have been brought in to conduct wellness exams, said all the recovered primates are in good health.
“As the monkeys are recaptured, they are given snacks. A favorite is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” police said.
Yemasee officials said that “a significant number” of the escaped primates were located in a facility near where the rescued animal was found and were “jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence.”
“Alpha Genesis management and staff are on-site, actively feeding and monitoring the animals, and they will continue these efforts throughout the weekend,” the town’s officials said in a statement.
“The primates continue to interact with their companions inside the facility, which is a positive sign,” they added.
Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said the monkeys were having a nap Saturday afternoon.
“They are coming down to the ground a bit more now. It is a slow process,” he said.
The creatures escaped when a new employee at the Alpha Genesis center left the door to their enclosure open, Yemassee Town Administrator Matthew Garnes said during a briefing Thursday with town officials.
The primates are all very young females weighing 6 to 7 pounds each who have never been tested, according to police. There is no public health threat, police said.
Recovery efforts will continue until all the monkeys are recovered, police said, and requested the public call 911 if they spot any of the remaining animals.
“We thank the public for their cooperation in avoiding the area and kindly ask that drones not be used in the vicinity,” police said.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
(NEWPORT, Ore.) — Several officials in Lincoln County, Oregon have received an anonymous letter urging people to report “brown folks” they suspect are undocumented immigrants, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office recently learned about a letter being circulated throughout Lincoln County which encourages community members to track and report information regarding people of color, specifically community members that are believed to be undocumented,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook.
“We want to be unequivocal in our stance: this type of behavior is harmful, divisive, and inconsistent with the values we uphold as public servants and community members,” continued the post, signed by Sheriff Curtis Landers. “Targeting individuals in this manner erodes trust and undermines the sense of safety and inclusion that we strive to maintain in Lincoln County.”
The anonymous letter, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News, is riddled with typos and makes various threats against undocumented immigrants.
State and local officials have condemned the letter.
“Attempts to intimidate our communities and their leaders through racist letter-writing campaigns has no place in Oregon, and we will continue to stand together in opposition to those who seek to divide us,” said Oregon State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in a statement, adding that the state is an “open, welcoming, and safe for all individuals.”
“It is time to rise above these despicable tactics and demonstrate the true spirit of inclusivity and compassion that defines the Oregon way,” Rosenblum continued.
Toledo, Oregon Mayor Rod Cross announced at a Dec. 18 city council meeting that he had received the letter, bearing an invalid return address, a few days prior. That letter, obtained by ABC News, warns that in the latter part of January 2025, the Department of Homeland Security will begin “the largest round-up of brown illegals in our history.”
“I am livid because I don’t know if history is just not getting taught anymore or if the memories of my father and his generation have just been wiped out of existed but this is not America,” Mayor Cross said at the city council meeting. “This is not who we are.”
President-elect Donald Trump made campaign statements in which he vowed to conduct a large-scale deportation operation of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission. Though the anonymous letter refers to a “round-up of brown illegals,” it does not reference Trump or his past statements.
Sheriff Landers told ABC News he also received a copy of the letter in his personal PO box. He added that although the speech in the letter may not constitute a crime, he has notified the FBI for awareness. He said the mayor of Lincoln City, as well as several city council members. also received the letter.
In his Facebook statement, Sheriff Landers also stated that “Oregon law generally prohibits the inquiry or collection of an individual’s immigration or citizenship status, or country of birth, with few specific exceptions” defined by law.
“Consistent with this, the Sheriff’s Office does not inquire about, document, or share such information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” Landers’ statement continued. “These provisions are embedded in our policy manual and are essential to ensuring that our practices respect the rights and dignity of all individuals.”
According to the Oregon Department of Justice, Oregon became the first in the country to pass a statewide sanctuary law in 1987, which in part prohibits state and local law enforcement and government offices from “[participating] directly or indirectly in immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.”
K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Image
(LAS VEGAS) — Six years before packing a rental truck with firework mortars and gas cannisters before shooting himself in the head — an act he called a “wake-up” call to America in a note later found by law enforcement — Army Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger told an ex-girlfriend he was spiraling.
“Sometimes, I get so hopeless and depressed, it’s [expletive] ridiculous,” he texted, at one point describing a close-range firefight in which he killed two men.
“By far the worst of my life,” he wrote in 2018.
The violent death of Livelsberger, a 37-year-old decorated war veteran and Green Beret, on New Year’s Day is reviving questions about the unique risks that military personnel, and in particular special operations forces, face in their jobs and whether enough is being done to identify members in crisis.
Experts say the military has dramatically ramped up access to mental health support in recent years but that special operations forces in particular still remain vulnerable, in part out of fear that if they seek help their careers will be sidelined.
SOF personnel are more frequently exposed to the kinds of severe mental trauma that can trigger post-traumatic stress syndrome, as well as repeated concussive blasts from high-powered weapons that military officials suspect cause scarring and other physical changes to the brain.
Acute stress and relationship problems also can play a role in a person’s deteriorating mental state. In a 2020 study sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command that examined the suicide deaths of 29 special operations personnel, nearly all of them experienced emotional trauma in their first deployments. But other issues factored in as well, the study found.
“The downhill trajectory with compounding relationship issues, financial issues and legal issues occurs over many years,” the report found, noting the “large number of variables” typically involved.
In the case of Livelsberger, the Army will soon have to decide whether his nearly two decades of service as a special forces soldier with nine overseas deployments contributed to his death.
Enlisted by the Army in 2006 to train as a member of its special forces, Livelsberger became a member of the 10th Special Forces Group, which conducts counterterrorism and training missions around the world. He deployed five times to Afghanistan, as well as had stints in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo.
Livelsberger was awarded five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire. He also was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with valor.
His ex-girlfriend Alicia Arritt, who shared her text exchanges with Livelsberger with ABC News, said she remembered the Green Beret as funny, generous and kind and someone who loved children. He also liked art, basketball and fast cars. She said he was not impulsive.
If the Army finds that his suicide was caused by his service and “in the line of duty,” Livelsberger’s survivors would receive increased benefits.
With an FBI investigation ongoing, the Army has said only that Livelsberger participated in a holistic treatment program offered to special operations forces called the “Preservation of the Force and Family” program but that there were no red flags. The program, called POTFF, includes “physical, cognitive, medical and support resources as appropriate to each individual.”
Livelsberger, who was stationed in Germany at the time, didn’t display any “concerning behaviors” and was granted personnel leave shortly before his death, a spokesperson said.
“We encourage our Soldiers, if they need help, mental health treatment or need to speak with someone, to seek proactive behavioral health treatment either on base or online. They also have the option of talking to an Army chaplain,” Brig. Gen. Amanda Azubuike, chief of Army Public Affairs, said in a statement.
Dr. Rachel Yehuda, a professor of psychiatry and the neuroscience of trauma at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, said there are risk factors that seem to explain why some people are more vulnerable to PTSD than others.
This can include a person’s family history, exposure to trauma at a young age and biological factors that could make it more difficult for a person to “recalibrate” their nervous system after a traumatic event.
Yehuda, who is not involved in Livelsberger’s case and did not want to speak to his particular situation, said the trauma faced in general by service members in combat can be particularly challenging because it often occurs overseas when members are far away from close family and friends who can provide support. That support system, she said, can be critical to calming the nervous system.
“I think that we have to understand that trauma is a real thing. And it can really be detrimental to mental health, especially if you’re not in an environment where people can help you cope with all the things that you’re carrying,” she said.
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Fran Racioppi, a former 10th Special Forces Group officer who hosts a podcast on Green Berets and leadership, said the profile of a Green Beret soldier is unique because it’s someone capable of “extreme degrees of compassion” while also capable of going to war and maintaining the highest standards in warfighting.
“Whenever we have an incident when the behavior of a special operator drastically deviates from the standard profile, we need to understand the driving cause of that change and what contributing factors may cause a grievance,” he said.
Racioppi said he thinks the resources are there to support personnel like Livelsberger.
“But the first step will always be an operator’s self-assessment and willingness to seek help for themselves,” he said.
The SOCOM-sponsored study, conducted by the American Association of Suicidology, found at the time of its review, from 2012 through 2015, that many personnel were reluctant to raise their hands out of fear of getting sidelined, with suicide prevention training seen as a “check in the box.”
Livelsberger’s ex-girlfriend Arritt said he told her he feared getting help “because he wouldn’t be deployable.”
Sara Wilkinson, a suicide prevention advocate whose Navy SEAL husband died by suicide, said that while PTSD can be prevalent in the military, it’s not an arbitrary label that can be used to explain everyone’s experience. Wilkinson’s husband, Chad, was found to have suffered a unique type of brain scarring found in other deceased Navy SEALS.
Service members should know their story in life also can be one of tremendous resilience, she said.
“The point is you served. That comes at a price because of our last 20-plus years” of war, she said. “And you owe it to yourself, your loved ones and your life to be your own advocate physically and mentally.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Myers, Alex Stone, Matt Seyler and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
