Person of interest in UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting is from Maryland, was Gilman School valedictorian
BALTIMORE -- A man being questioned in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City is from Baltimore County, Maryland, and was the valedictorian at the Gilman School in 2016, WJZ has learned.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested at a McDonald's Monday afternoon in Altoona, Pennsylvania on firearm charges after he was recognized by an employee, police said.
At a press conference, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione was found in possession of a firearm and suppressor that appeared to match those used in the shooting. He also had multiple fraudulent IDs, including the one used to check into a New York City hostel, and was in possession of clothing and a face mask that appeared to match those seen on the suspected gunman.
Mangione was a 2016 graduate and valedictorian speaker at the Gilman School in Baltimore. A video of the 119th Gilman School Founder's Day Ceremony shows Mangione's speech.
"We recently became aware that the person arrested in connection with the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is a Gilman alumnus, Luigi Mangione, Class of 2016," Henry P.A. Smyth, Gilman's head of school, said in a statement. "We do not have any information other than what is being reported in the news."
Thompson was shot and killed on December 4 outside the Hilton Midtown Hotel in Manhattan while in town for an investor's conference.
Two days into the manhunt, investigators said they believed the person of interest may have fled New York City, and boarded a bus headed to Atlanta.
Investigators searched Central Park, where they found what they believed to be the suspect gunman's backpack, CBS News reported.
They learned that before the shooting, the person of interest took a bus that originated in Atlanta, but were unclear whether the person of interest got on the bus in Atlanta, or on another stop along the way.
