Luigi Mangione charged with healthcare CEO’s murder happymamay

Luigi Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of health care CEO Brian Thompson last month, New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday.

Mr. Mangione is charged with one count of first-degree murder, as well as two counts of second-degree murder, one of which charges the killing as an act of “terrorism,” Bragg said.

In announcing the charges, Bragg described the shooting as a “frightening, well-planned and targeted murder.”

Mangione is scheduled to appear in court on December 19 to consider whether to extradite him to New York on these charges, according to CBS News, the BBC’s media partner.

The extradition proceedings will be held on the same day he is scheduled for preliminary proceedings on the weapons charges in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in possession of a so-called “ghost gun” and a fake ID, five days after he shot and killed health care executive Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, police said.

His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, said he intended to fight extradition, and stressed that he had not seen evidence linking Mr. Mangione’s weapon to the crime.

New York prosecutors began sharing evidence in their case against Mangione with a grand jury last week.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg suggested that Mr. Mangione might waive extradition, meaning his arrival in New York would be imminent, according to CBS News.

If extradited, the 26-year-old would likely be held on Riker’s Island or another prison in New York.

The evidence against Mr. Mangione includes: Positive match New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said his fingerprints and those discovered at the crime scene.

In addition to the ghost gun — a gun assembled from untraceable parts — and a fake ID, police said they also found a passport and a handwritten document indicating Mr. Mangione’s “motives and mindset” during his arrest.

He was formally charged in Pennsylvania with forgery, carrying firearms without a license, tampering with records or identity, possession of tools of crime and providing false identification to police.

While Mr. Mangione awaits his fate in the New York court system, he remains under maximum security at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.

Bail has been refused.