Luigi Mangione admits shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO

Luigi Mangione admitted in federal court Friday that he shot UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024, as he pleaded guilty to stalking charges.

“On the morning of December 4, I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione told a federal judge.

Mangione, 28, is due to be sentenced on December 18. Prosecutors said they would seek a life term.

Federal prosecutors alleged Mangione killed Thompson, 50, to protest the US insurance system. Mangione faced federal stalking charges alongside murder charges in the New York state system.

His lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said the defence had filed a motion in state court arguing that the state charges should be dismissed under New York's double jeopardy protections.

The stalking charges and the murder charges could both lead to life sentences. Two other federal charges that carried the death penalty were thrown out by a judge earlier this year.

Thompson's relatives attended the hearing. In a statement afterward, the family said that “nothing will ease the pain” of losing him, but that they were grateful the federal justice system had held the person responsible accountable. They said the murder trial was still to come and that they would continue to seek justice for Thompson.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024, after a days-long manhunt. US prosecutors said he had travelled to New York by bus from Atlanta about 10 days before the killing, checked into a Manhattan hostel using false identification and carried out reconnaissance near Thompson's hotel and the conference venue where the shooting took place.

Mangione also admitted in court Friday that he used a 3-D printer to make a gun and equipped it with a silencer and magazine.