For the past week, America has been captivated and intrigued by the cold-blooded murder of an insurance executive in New York City.
When high-profile murders happen in big cities, it grabs national attention. The murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was caught on camera as he was walking to an investor’s conference.
Images of his attacker were also caught by surveillance cameras in the area and in a taxi cab. New York Police Department investigators quickly circulated the camera image to local media and the national media had the pictures on the 6:30 news.
In a matter of hours, police gathered information that the suspect was in a nearby coffee shop flirting with an employee who asked him to remove his toboggan so she could see him. Coffee shop surveillance cameras caught a good image of him.
His image was circulated far and wide. Fast-forward to Monday morning, while police search teams were combing through an area of Central Park the suspect was believed to have passed through following the attack, he was spotted in Altoona, Pennsylvania ordering something to eat at a McDonald’s. An alert employee who waited on him and watched him sit for his meal contacted police who responded and finally had their man.
Luigi Mangione, 26, has been charged with murder. In his possession was a manifesto expressing his admiration for Unabomber Ted Kaczynski who was convicted of mailing bombs to those he thought were advancing technology.
Mangione was using a bit of advanced technology of his own, committing the murder with a ghost gun that can be assembled by purchasing specific parts and making the weapon used in this killing.
Mangione is a former Ivy League student who hates the American healthcare system. He has had sympathizers who posted online their support and understanding of his actions. He had no previous criminal record.
As for his motive, he wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and that profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin, based on a review of his hand-written notes and social media posts.
Mangione also stressed that he had acted alone in gunning down Thompson.
In the end, it was good police work to locate those early images of Mangione that were circulated around the world by media of all types, putting a quick end to the hunt for a murder suspect. Credit also goes to the McDonald’s worker who paid enough attention to the photos to call the police on a hunch after Mangione came into the restaurant Monday. Hopefully they’ll be the recipient of the big rewards that had been offered for his capture.
All of this is a good reminder to pay more than a passing glance at the photos of police suspects and missing persons circulated through the media by police and others. You just never know, you could be hundreds of miles away at a fast-food restaurant and they could be ordering a meal right in front of you.