Attorney General Pamela Bondi on Tuesday directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last year.
Mangione, 26, was federally charged in December with stalking and murdering Thompson after the CEO was fatally shot on the streets of midtown Manhattan. He was also charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism by state prosecutors.
Bondi said that she was directing prosecutors to seek the death penalty as part of “President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment about the attorney general’s directive.
Mangione has yet to be indicted federally and prosecutors have indicated that both sides are ok with delaying that process while state prosecutors bring their case first. If he is convicted of the state charges, Mangione could be imprisoned for life without parole.
Thompson’s Dec. 4 killing and subsequent manhunt for his masked assassin captivated the nation.
The gunman fled on a bike outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson was staying for the health care company’s annual investors’ meeting, police said. City surveillance footage showed the gunman riding into Central Park before disappearing.
Five days later, on Dec. 9, a worker at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, said they recognized the gunman from images released by the New York Police Department and the FBI. Authorities arrested Mangione that day.
Police said they found Mangione with a ghost gun, multiple fake IDs and a three-page handwritten document “that speaks to both his motivation and mindset.” Police later said that the shells from the gun found on Mangione allegedly matched the shell casings found at the scene of the crime.
Thompson’s killing prompted a national debate over the astronomical costs associated with the U.S. health care system and insurance industry.
Archived Reddit posts believed to be associated with an account that belonged to Mangione detailed that the 26-year-old underwent spinal surgery and struggled with chronic back pain, numbness, and restless sleep. At the time of the shooting, UnitedHealthcare said Mangione was not insured by the company.
Mangione is being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn, NY.
