'Life-changing' injury may have pushed NY suspect to kill CEO: police

A "life-changing, life-altering" back injury may have helped drive the man charged with gunning down a top health insurance CEO in the middle of New York City to the killing, police said Thursday.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street last week, triggering a nationwide manhunt that ended Monday when he was recognized at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.

Detectives have been focused on what may have motivated the data engineer, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Baltimore family, to allegedly shoot Thompson in cold blood.

Speculation had swirled about Mangione's health, after a photo on what appeared to be one of his social media accounts featured an X-ray of a spine with a medical implement.

"It seems that he had an accident that caused him to go to the emergency room back in July of 2023, and that it was a life-changing injury," New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York on Thursday.

"He posted X-rays of screws being inserted into his spine. So the injury that he suffered was, was a life-changing, life-altering injury, and that's what may have put him on this path," Kenny continued.

He also said that police had found "no indication that (Mangione) was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare" and suggested he may have targeted the company because it was the largest healthcare organization in the United States.

Police have said that Mangione's fingerprints matched those found near the crime scene, and that shell casings match the gun found on him when he was arrested.

But they have not yet been able to access what is believed to be his phone, nor have they spoken to his family, NBC reported.

Mangione remains jailed in Pennsylvania as he fights efforts to extradite him to New York to face justice over the killing.

ABC News reported Thursday that prosecutors at the Manhattan district attorney's office have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury over the killing. If they win an indictment that could strengthen their case for extradition.

Police have said that when he was arrested, Mangione had a three-page handwritten text criticizing the US health care system, which is often criticized for putting profits ahead of people.

He also had a notebook with him containing planning notes for the murder, The New York Times reported, citing law enforcement sources.

"What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It's targeted, precise, and doesn't risk innocents," said one entry according to The Times.

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