Adedokun Waliyu 
Police have arrested “a strong person of interest” in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and police officials announced Monday.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters Luigi Mangione, 26, was taken into custody by police in Altoona, Penn., about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City, earlier Monday. She said Mangione was recognized by an employee of a local McDonald’s who then called local police.
Mangione was found with multiple false identification cards and a firearm and a suppressor, another name for a silencer, that police believe was used in the fatal shooting, Tisch said. She added one of the ID cards matched the ID used by the suspected shooter to check into a hostel in Manhattan before the shooting.
Tisch and Adams credited the wide distribution of surveillance images of a person of interest sought in the shooting that led to Mangione’s arrest.
“How did we do it? Good old fashioned police work,” Adams said.
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching the executive from behind and opening fire, NYPD Tisch said Wednesday. He used a 9 mm pistol that police said resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise.
Police on Monday said “a ghost gun capable of firing a 9 mm round” was found on Mangione.
In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of photos and video — including footage of the attack, as well as images of an individual described by NYPD as a person of interest at a Starbucks beforehand.
Ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics, U.S. media reported last week citing law enforcement sources.
On Friday, police found a backpack in the park that they say the killer discarded as he fled from the crime scene to an uptown bus station, where they believe he left the city on a bus.
On Monday, K-9 units sniffed leaf-covered planters between walking paths in Central Park near where police found the shooter’s backpack. Farther along the path that police suspect he took through the park after the shooting, scuba divers geared up and started searching a pond for the third straight day.
Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, investigators say the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle, emerged from the park without his backpack and then ditched the bicycle.
He then walked a couple blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
The FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a US$50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to US$10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the shooter acted alone.
Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of a person of interest that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue mask.
Through the park search, the NYPD has taken steps to minimize disruption to visitors, leading to an odd juxtaposition of joggers, tourists and an active crime scene.
On Monday, a small section of the park was cordoned off with blue and white police tape, giving divers an area to change and get in the water.
At one point, a group of about 30 French-speaking tourists followed a guide down a path, but they couldn’t go any further because of the police tape. Before turning back, many of them whipped out their phones to snap a photo of the divers.
