Luigi Mangione had just admitted in a Manhattan courtroom that he had gunned down Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare.
As the court proceeding ended on Friday, Paulette Thompson, Mr. Thompson’s widow, sniffled as she left, followed by his mother, who clutched a tissue.
The family was whisked out of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse and ushered into black Cadillac Escalades. As they left the building, a lone supporter shouted: “America loves Luigi.”
On the day when Mr. Mangione confessed his guilt, the crowd of people supporting Mr. Mangione or simply curious was noticeably smaller than at earlier hearings, with the family and friends of Mr. Thompson comparable in numbers. The remnants of the public obsession surrounding the case lingered.
Before the hearing began, roughly two dozen members of the public and a similar number of journalists had lined up by 7 a.m. Friday, all vying for a coveted seat to watch the court hearing.
Some had secured their spots the night before. Others had hired line sitters, a staple of high-profile trials. In the queue for the public, a makeshift picnic sprang up, with people sharing greasy paper bags filled with food.
Inside the courtroom, Mr. Mangione’s admission of guilt turned the circuslike environment that had marked some of his court appearances into a somber moment. Dressed in tan jail garb, Mr. Mangione showed little emotion as he answered U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett’s questions in a clear, crisp voice.
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan,” Mr. Mangione, 28, said.
Richard Partington, who said that he had been in the line since Thursday morning, described being inside the courtroom as an “intense experience.”
“When the judge asked if he was guilty, he paused for two seconds and said, ‘Yes.’ And there was silence,” Mr. Partington said.
Abril Rios, a self-described “Mangionista,” has diligently followed Mr. Mangione’s case since he was arrested, acquiring a press pass of her own and nabbing a spot on the reserved seating list for the most recent hearing in the state case in which he faces a murder charge.
When she first heard that a hearing in the federal case had been scheduled Friday, she knew something “monumentous” would happen, she said.
She described the decision for him to plead guilty in the federal case as “a risky move,” while adding that she had faith in Mr. Mangione’s legal team to do what was best for him. “I always thought this could be possible.”
Anusha Bayya, Sarah Chatta, Oishika Neogi and Wesley Parnell contributed reporting.
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