The story of Luigi Mangione continues to get stranger, and after the 26-year-old was arrested and charged over the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, details surrounding his personal life are starting to emerge. Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald's, reportedly possessing a 'ghost gun' firearm and a three-page handwritten document about his 'motivation and mindset'.
A senior law enforcement official gave some insight into Mangione's note to the New York Times, with it apparently saying: "These parasites had it coming…I do apologise for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.”
Shell casings found at the scene of Thompson's murder are said to have the words 'deny', 'defend', and 'depose' written on them. An X account believed to be Mangione's features an X-ray of a spine, while one of his friends told the NYT he underwent major surgery in 2023, and someone matching his name and photo read a book called Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry in 2022.
It's unclear whether this shaped Mangione’s views of the healthcare industry, although some think it'll all become clearer in a video posted by the man himself. YouTube users have been drawn to a video uploaded to an account titled @PepMangione. The name matches other handles used by Mangione, and with the 84-second clip going viral just hours after his arrest, it's led to plenty of theorizing. Text in the video reads, "If you see this, I'm already under arrest," followed by a countdown and the word 'soon' appearing near the bottom of the screen.
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Alongside a flash of December 11, the mystery video ended with caption: "All is scheduled, be patient. Bye for now."
The channel was started in January 2024, matches Mangione's age, and references Mangione's education at the University of Pennsylvania, leading to assumptions the video was scheduled before his arrest.
Computer science engineer John Maly originally told Newsweek: "In this case, the suspect probably set up a sort of deadman switch by continually rescheduling the video for the day after today, until he was suddenly in custody and couldn't."
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It's not that simple, and thanks to some digging by The Intercept, there are doubts over whether this account even belongs to Luigi Mangione. Although it's possible to schedule videos ahead of time, the site reports how the now-removed video was uploaded only minutes before it debuted. With Mangione having been in custody at the time, the times don't match up.
Newsweek edited its original article to remove speculation that Mangione had been pushing the video back daily until he was arrested and it eventually went live on its own accord.
In an edited version of the original article, a YouTube spokesperson told Newsweek how the channel was seemingly updated in the aftermath of Thompson's shooting and wasn't always named after Mangione's other social handles: "The channel's metadata was updated following widespread reporting of Luigi Mangione's arrest, including updates made to the channel name and handle."
The channel has since been suspended due to violating 'policies covering impersonation', as well as YouTube saying it has taken down three other channels owned by the same person. YouTube has pulled a second video that was scheduled to go live on December 9, suggesting that whatever was in the 'truth' video won't see the light of day. Similarly, we don't expect the December 11 video to happen, although it could appear on another channel.
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In the aftermath of Mangione's arrest, an increasing number of accounts claiming to be him have started circulating, while a bizarre situation saw dozens attend a lookalike competition in New York's Washington Square Park.