Luigi Mangione does not want future jurors to see the gun and handwritten “manifesto” that his arresting officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, say they pulled from his backpack.
No surprise there. The Glock-style metal-and-3D-printed 9mm is a match, prosecutors say, to shell casings and a bullet from the fatal ambush shooting, five days prior, of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. And Mangione’s writings? Prosecutors say they detail the 28-year-old Baltimore native’s plan to “wack” a healthcare insurance company’s CEO.
Mangione and his lawyers have been in state court in Manhattan since Monday, arguing that the backpack was unlawfully searched without a warrant.
Six law enforcement witnesses have testified, and the court hearing is set to continue next week. Here are some of the images and audio presented in court so far — and why they matter.
The original 911 call — laughter, apologies, a bagel order.
Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann, bear the burden of proving that Altoona Police acted professionally, even calmly.
To that end, some of the first evidence Seidemann presented was this 911 audio, which sets the stage for what was to come. Police say they arrived at the McDonald’s expecting the visit to be uneventful in part because the manager who made the call was so apologetic — insisting she was only seeking to appease her customers. Dispatch listed the call as “Priority: Low.”
Prosecutors say Mangione tried to throw cops off the scent by claiming he was a “homeless” guy named “Mark.” He handed them this ID.
“What’s your name?” the first of two patrolmen entering the McDonald’s asked. “Uh, Mark,” Mangione answered, according to sealed police bodycam footage shown in court Monday. He told them he was homeless.
Here is the New Jersey license that Mangione then gave the two cops. Moments later, he complied with the command to pull down his blue and white paper medical mask. “I knew it was him immediately,” Patrolman Joseph Detwiler testified, adding, “I stayed calm.”
Bodycam footage showed the officer whistling along as Jingle Bell Rock played on the McDonald’s sound system — to keep Mangione calm as well, he told the judge.
An arresting officer testified he was concerned Luigi Mangione could be dangerous, in part because he’d seen images like this one.
Detwiler had closely followed the manhunt for Thompson’s killer, the veteran patrolman told New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro from the witness stand.
He’d said he’d seen NYPD social media postings publicizing the as-yet-unnamed shooting suspect’s face. Elsewhere online, he had seen surveillance footage of the shooting, which was played in court.
“I knew in New York that they hadn’t found the firearm,” Detwiler testified to explain that safety was behind the decision to frisk Mangione and search his backpack before arresting him on the initial Pennsylvania charges of forgery and providing a false ID to law enforcement.
Additional evidence was taken from Mangione at Altoona’s police station, including a small folding knife and $7,800 in large bills.
Before they left the McDonald’s, Mangione alerted the police to a small folding knife they’d failed to find in his pocket. It was of legal size, Detwiler’s partner, Patrolman Tyler Frye, testified Thursday, adding that even so, “It could possibly hurt somebody — seriously.”
At the Altoona police station, a more thorough search of Mangione’s clothing and backpack recovered $7,800 in large bills and currency from Thailand, Japan, and India, totaling $1,620. “There’s a gun,” Patrolwoman Christy Wasser is heard saying in footage showing her searching Mangione’s backpack.
Given the gun and the overlooked knife, the decision was made to strip-search Mangione.
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