(ITALY) — An 11-year-old girl was miraculously rescued after three days of being stranded at sea when a shipwreck off Italy’s Lampedusa island is believed to have killed the remaining passengers on the vessel.
Germany’s CompassCollective, the charitable organization that rescued the girl at 3 a.m. on Wednesday, said its boat was en route on a different rescue operation when they heard her shouting from the water.
“It was an incredible coincidence that we heard the child’s voice despite the engine running,” Skipper Matthias Wiedenlübbert said in a press release detailing the rescue.
The shipwrecked metal boat, which had initially set off from Sfax, Tunisia, was caught in a storm that lasted several days in the central Mediterranean, according to the release.
There were an estimated 45 passengers onboard the ship before it sank, the organization said.
The 11-year-old girl said she drifted in the water for three days with two improvised life rings made from air-filled inner tubes and a simple life jacket.
She survived without any drinking water or food and despite suffering from hypothermia, she was “responsive and oriented,” according to the release.
The girl told the organization she had been in contact with two other passengers in the water two days after the shipwreck, but that the contact had broken off.
After receiving medical attention, the girl was moved to a migrant holding center in Lampedusa where Italian Red Cross staff were looking after her, according to the organization.
CompassCollective’s Katja Tempel said the rescue signals an ongoing crisis for migrants embarking on dangerous journeys by boat in attempts to get to Europe.
“Even in storms, people are forced to use risky escape routes across the Mediterranean. We need safe passages for refugees and an open Europe that welcomes people and gives them easy access to the asylum system. Drowning in the Mediterranean is not an option,” Tempel said in the release.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the migration route between Tunisia, Libya, Italy and Malta is one of the most dangerous passages in the world with over 24,300 people disappearing or dying since 2014.
“The persisting humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable,” IOM Director General António Vitorino said in 2023. “With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have been normalized,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Christopher Wray told employees at an internal town hall on Wednesday that he is resigning, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
He said he is stepping down at the end of the current Biden administration.
“After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current Administration in January and then step down. My goal is to keep the focus on our mission — the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day. In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” he said in his remarks.
“It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway — this is not easy for me. I love this place, I love our mission, and I love our people — but my focus is, and always has been, on us and doing what’s right for the FBI,” he said.
“When you look at where the threats are headed, it’s clear that the importance of our work – keeping Americans safe and upholding the Constitution — will not change. And what absolutely cannot, must not change is our commitment to doing the right thing, the right way, every time. Our adherence to our core values, our dedication to independence and objectivity, and our defense of the rule of law — those fundamental aspects of who we are must never change,” he said. “That’s the real strength of the FBI — the importance of our mission, the quality of our people, and their dedication to service over self. It’s an unshakeable foundation that’s stood the test of time, and cannot be easily moved. And it — you, the men and women of the FBI — are why the Bureau will endure and remain successful long into the future.”
Wray, who was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump and confirmed in August 2017, oversaw the agency in a “heightened threat environment” and number of high-profile cases, including the investigation of the man who appointed him.
As FBI director, Wray oversaw the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, hundreds of Chinese espionage cases, the probes into Trump’s and President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents as well as thousands more criminal investigations.
Wray was nominated by Trump after he fired his predecessor, James Comey.
Republican critics have accused Wray’s FBI of political interference, a lack of transparency and a lack of responsiveness to Congress.
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Wray on Dec. 9, expressing a “vote of no confidence” in Wray and his deputy director.
“For the good of the country, it’s time for you and your deputy to move on to the next chapter of your life,” Grassley writes.
Trump has picked Kash Patel to replace Wray at the FBI.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The ghost gun allegedly in Luigi Mangione’s possession when he was arrested in Pennsylvania has been matched to three shell casings recovered at the scene of Brian Thompson’s murder in New York City, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday.
Fingerprints recovered from a water bottle and a Kind bar near the crime scene have also been matched to Mangione, she said.
Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, is accused of gunning down Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4.
Written on the shell casings were the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” according to police sources.
Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday after nearly one week on the run.
Mangione allegedly had a spiral notebook detailing plans about how to eventually kill the CEO, according to law enforcement officials.
One passage allegedly said, “What do you do? You whack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” the officials said.
The writings said using explosives in the attack could “risk innocents,” according to the officials.
Detectives are still examining Mangione’s writings but are considering the contents of the notebook to represent a confession, sources said.
Investigators have started interviewing members of Mangione’s family, according to sources.
A judge in Pennsylvania ordered Mangione held without bail on Tuesday. In Pennsylvania he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun.
Mangione plans to challenge his extradition to New York, where he faces charges including second-degree murder.
“He has constitutional rights and that’s what he’s doing” in challenging the interstate transfer, defense attorney Thomas Dickey told reporters on Tuesday.
Mangione is “taking it as well as he can,” Dickey added.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will seek a governor’s warrant to try to force Mangione’s extradition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she’ll sign a request for the governor’s warrant “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable.”
Mangione’s attorney told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that anyone speculating on the case should take the potential evidence “in its entirety,” not taking pieces of writing or other evidence “out of context.”
“People put out certain things, parts of different things,” he said. “I think any lawyer involved in this situation would want to see it all.”
Mangione plans to plead not guilty to the charges in Pennsylvania, Dickey said. Dickey said he anticipates Mangione would also plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Mark Crudele, Luke Barr, Peter Charalambous and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans should prepare for an Arctic blast that will blanket much of the country in below-freezing temperatures over the next several days.
Frigid conditions are expected over a large swath of the contiguous U.S. in the aftermath of a powerful cold front moving through the East Coast on Wednesday, forecasts show.
Once the rain and wind has subsided, the icy conditions will extend east and south from the upper Midwest — reaching as far as Texas and Florida.
The cold air moving over the Great Lakes while they are still ice-free is expected to generate a lake effect snow event.
The National Weather Service has issued a lake effect snow warning for portions of northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York, where locally 2 feet to 3 feet of snow is possible, forecasts show.
A winter storm warning has also been issued across portions of Wisconsin and Michigan, where locally 1 foot to 2 feet of lake-effect snow is possible.
Chilly temperatures got an early start in the upper Midwest. On Wednesday morning, wind chills dipped to as low as -38 degrees in eastern North Dakota.
The arctic air mass will then move east and south, bringing the coldest air of the season from Texas to New York. A frost advisory has even been issued for parts of northern Florida, including Gainesville.
The frigid temperatures are expected to last through Friday and evening Saturday morning in some regions, including Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City and Atlanta.
The cold will begin to ease this weekend, first across the center of the country, then reaching the East Coast by Sunday and Monday.
Above average temperatures are favored across much of the country next week, according to the latest forecast from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Bill Clinton, during an appearance on ABC’s The View on Wednesday, indicated he hopes President Joe Biden will not preemptively pardon people who could be targeted by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, including Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“If President Biden wanted to talk to me about that, I would talk to him about it. But I don’t think I should be giving public advice on the pardon power. I think it’s too — it’s a very personal thing, but it is — I hope he won’t do that,” Clinton said.
“Most of us get out of this world ahead of where we’d get if all we got was simple justice. And so it’s normally a fool’s errand. You spend a lot of time trying to get even,” he added.
President Biden and his senior aides have been discussing possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the new Trump administration, according to a source close to the president. Experts have told ABC News he has the power to do so under the Constitution.
Clinton emphasized that he does not believe any potential charges from the incoming Trump administration brought against Hillary Clinton would be valid, arguing that she did not do anything wrong with her handling of emails during her time at the State Department — a controversy which became a flashpoint late in the 2016 election cycle.
Asked separately about his recent comments that a Republican could be more likely to be the first female president, Clinton said, “The impulse to say a woman probably shouldn’t be president comes more from the right than from the left — in the brain — and it’s an impulsive thing.”
He also surmised that voters are not always looking toward how much experience a politician had, because of how they’re focused on day-to-day issues.
“If you’re an alienated voter and you’re genuinely worried about your family’s financial security or your personal security, then the last thing you want is somebody who’s well qualified … if you think the total sum of impact of government action is negative, then you may not want somebody who’s well qualified,” Clinton said.
“And that’s the danger we’re at now, because it actually does matter if you know things.”
Asked about what may happen after Trump’s victory, Clinton emphasized that Trump won fairly.
“So, I think what we have to do is to observe a peaceful transfer of power, stand up for what we believe, and work together when we can,” Clinton said.
“I do not think we should just be jamming them, even though they do that to us a lot. I think it’s a mistake,” he added.
During the 2024 campaign cycle, Bill Clinton campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris, serving as a key surrogate sent to rural areas and to speak with working-class voters.
Asked how Democrats can win back working-class voters who have been shifting to support Republicans, Clinton said that he feels part of the challenge is “cultural,” as rural voters skewer more conservative and are dealing with things they are not used to.
“The world moves on, and things that once made sense to people don’t anymore,” he said. “The world moves on, and things that once made sense to people don’t anymore. Things that should make sense don’t anymore.”
“We need to quit screaming at each other and listen to each other. We need to have a serious conversation about these things. And I think one of the things that Democrats sometimes do is give up on too many people, because the demographics say they’re not going to be for it,” Clinton said.
“Well, that may be, but you know, if you don’t deal with something that’s controversial, just because you don’t want to hear it, that’s like an insult to voters.”
Clinton has devoted time to charitable and health causes since his presidency, and his memoir “Citizen: My Life After the White House” released in November.
“First, it was fun, and secondly, it was important,” Clinton said of his charitable work. “And thirdly, I could do it. And it didn’t matter if the president was Barack Obama or George Bush, we just did things that human beings needed.”
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth met on Wednesday with another moderate Republican whose vote will be closely watched in his confirmation battle.
Hegseth sat down with Maine Sen. Susan Collins as he continues to make the rounds to shore up support amid allegations of sexual impropriety and other misconduct, which he denies.
Afterward, he described it as a “great meeting.”
“Office after office, having the opportunity to spend time with these senators who have invested their careers in ensuring that our warfighters get what they need, has been amazing educational process,” Hegseth said. “And Senator Collins, like her colleagues before her reiterated that.
“It was a wonderful conversation focused on what needs to be done to make sure this Pentagon is focused on warfighting and lethality, and we look forward to stay in touch with her,” he added.
Hegseth added he was “certainly not going to assume anything about where the senator stands” as he was peppered with questions by reporters.
Collins called it a “good, substantive discussion” for more than an hour on everything from women’s role in the military and sexual assault in the military to Ukraine and NATO.
“I asked virtually every question under the sun,” Collins said. “I pressed him on both his position on military issues as well as the allegations against him.”
Collins did not voice support for Hegseth, instead saying she’d wait until further vetting of Hegseth before deciding how to vote.
“I, obviously, always wait until we have an FBI background check, and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision,” she said.
Their meeting came on the heels of his meeting on Tuesday with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is viewed as another possible GOP swing vote. Murkowski said they had a “good exchange” but did not indicate whether she’d been swayed to support him.
Hegseth is one of many Trump administration picks who’ve been on Capitol Hill this week.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security, met with various Republican senators on Tuesday.
When departing a meeting with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Noem was asked if she’d support Trump’s plan for mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission. Deportations were a central promise of Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“I am going to enforce the president’s agenda,” Noem responded.
Noem also left the door open for a deal with Democrats to protect “Dreamers,” or migrants brought illegally to the U.S. as young children. Trump floated the idea during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” despite his attempts to undermine the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program during his first administration.
“You know, I appreciate the president’s word on this issue, and I know he wants our laws to be followed, so I’ll work with him to get his vision accomplished,” Noem said.
Noem was back for meetings on Wednesday, including one with Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Noem said she hoped for bipartisan support in her confirmation bid.
Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, and Tulsi Gabbard, his choice for director of national intelligence, have also been spotted walking the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building.
For Patel to fill the role, current FBI Director Christopher Wray would need to resign or be fired.
Several Republican senators expressed this week they’d be fine with Wray being forced out or stepping aside.
“I like Director Wray but I think it’s time for a fresh start at the FBI,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“Obviously, Director Wray would be fired. That is obvious,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
(WASHINGTON) — Albertsons has filed a lawsuit against its rival Kroger following a failed multibillion dollar deal that would have marked the biggest supermarket merger in U.S. history.
Two federal judges in Oregon and Washington blocked the merger Tuesday, siding with the Federal Trade Commission, which has opposed the plan, arguing it would eliminate competition and raise prices for American shoppers.
Albertsons announced Wednesday that it had terminated the merger agreement following the failed bid.
“Given the recent federal and state court decisions to block our proposed merger with Kroger, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement,” Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed in the courts’ decisions.”
Less than 24 hours after the failed deal, the Boise, Idaho-based retailer also announced it had taken legal action against Kroger.
“Kroger willfully breached the Merger Agreement in several key ways, including by repeatedly refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring regulators’ feedback, rejecting stronger divestiture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons,” the company alleged in a statement Wednesday.
Albertsons claimed the Cincinnati, Ohio-based grocery chain failed to exercise “best efforts” and failed to take “‘any and all actions’ to secure regulatory approval of the companies’ agreed merger transaction as was required of Kroger under the terms of the merger agreement between the parties.”
The complaint was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Kroger and is temporarily under seal.
In response to the lawsuit, Kroger released its own statement, calling the suit “baseless.”
“Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in light of Albertsons’ repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process, which we will prove in court,” the company claimed. “This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Kroger’s written notification of Albertsons’ multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the merger’s break fee, to which they are not entitled.”
Kroger said the company “looks forward to responding to these baseless claims in court.”
Tom Moriarty, Albertsons’ general counsel and chief policy officer, expressed his disappointment and said the merger “would have delivered meaningful benefits for America’s consumers,” as well as both companies’ employees.
“Rather than fulfill its contractual obligations to ensure that the merger succeeded, Kroger acted in its own financial self-interest, repeatedly providing insufficient divestiture proposals that ignored regulators’ concerns,” Moriarty claimed in a statement. “Kroger’s self-serving conduct, taken at the expense of Albertsons and the agreed transaction, has harmed Albertsons’ shareholders, associates and consumers.”
The two supermarket chains first proposed combining forces back in October 2022, sharing a definitive agreement in which Kroger, the second largest U.S. grocery store chain, sought to purchase the fourth largest, Albertsons, for an estimated total enterprise value of $24.6 billion.
Following a three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon, U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a temporary injunction blocking the merger on Tuesday.
That was followed later on Tuesday by a decision from Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle, Washington, who issued a permanent injunction that barred the merger in that state, citing competition concerns and a violation of Washington’s consumer-protection laws.
Kroger operates 2,800 stores across 35 states, with brands including Ralphs, Smith’s and Harris Teeter. Albertsons operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s.
Between them, the two grocery chains have more than 700,000 workers and operate almost everywhere in the U.S.
In separate statements following Tuesday’s court rulings, both Kroger and Albertsons expressed disappointment and said at the time, they would review their options.
Both the White House and the FTC praised the rulings Tuesday.
“The FTC, along with our state partners, scored a major victory for the American people, successfully blocking Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons,” Bureau of Competition Director Henry Liu said in a statement. “This historic win protects millions of Americans across the country from higher prices for essential groceries — from milk, to bread, to eggs — ultimately allowing consumers to keep more money in their pockets.”
White House National Economic Council Deputy Director Jon Donenberg said in a separate statement Tuesday, “The Kroger-Albertsons merger would have been the biggest supermarket merger in history — raising grocery prices for consumers and lowering wages for workers. Our administration is proud to stand up against big corporate mergers that increase prices, undermine workers, and hurt small businesses.”
(MALIBU, Calif.) — A raging wildfire fanned by strong Santa Ana winds has spread to nearly 4,000 acres in Malibu, California, destroying homes and leaving more than 20,000 people under evacuation orders, including 98-year-old actor Dick Van Dyke and other celebrities in the oceanfront community.
The Franklin Fire, which erupted Monday night near the campus of Pepperdine University, was 7% contained on Wednesday morning as more than 1,500 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze in the rugged and hilly terrain of Malibu Canyon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Burning through thick dry vegetation, the fire has been fueled by Santa Ana winds that have topped 90 mph, officials said.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Van Dyke, who is set to turn 99 on Friday, said he and his wife, Arlene, were forced to evacuate as flames threatened their home in the secluded community of Serra Retreat in the hills of lower Malibu Canyon. He said all of his pets, except for his beloved cat Bobo, managed to escape.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo…,” Van Dyke wrote. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
In a follow-up Facebook message, Van Dyke posted a video of his cat, writing, “Hoping Bobo is ok.”
Other celebrities residing in the area were forced to flee the flames or stay on lockdown. Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cher also evacuated, according to her publicist.
“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill said in an Instagram post that he has also been affected by the fire.
“We’re in lockdown because of the Malibu fires,” the 73-year-old Hamill said in the post. “Please stay safe everyone! I’m not allowed to leave the house, which fits in perfectly with my elderly-recluse lifestyle.”
The Franklin Fire erupted just before 11 p.m. Pacific time on Monday and quickly grew amid the blustery Santa Anna winds, which blow southwest toward the Pacific Ocean.
At least seven homes have been destroyed by the fire and another eight have been damaged, according to Cal Fire.
Power to about 40,000 customers was shut off by Monday night, including 11,000 in Los Angeles County, as Southern California Edison worked to mitigate the impacts of the Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark more wildfires.
There have been no reports of deaths or injuries. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Pepperdine University canceled classes for the second straight day. When the fire erupted, officials put the campus on lockdown for about six hours before the order was lifted. As the fire grew on Tuesday, students were again ordered to seek shelter in the campus center and library, where students said they watched flames creep onto campus.
“Fire activity around Pepperdine’s Malibu campus has greatly diminished as the Franklin Fire has burned through most of the fuel immediately surrounding campus, but some flames are still visible in small pockets of campus,” the university said on its website.
Malibu resident Fred Robert described to ABC News seeing flames “coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch.”
Red Flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service signaling the high risk of fire danger remained in effect Wednesday in the Malibu area.
“Time is of the essence for us to grab hold of the fire and start getting containment,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Marrone said firefighters are tackling the blaze from the ground and air “as they struggle to contain this stubborn fire.”
(NEW YORK) — The Alexander brothers — Alon, Oren and Tal — have been arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, according to New York prosecutors.
For well over a decade, the prominent real estate brothers conspired to “repeatedly and violently drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of women,” according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York after the brothers were arrested in Miami on Wednesday.
“At times, the Alexander brothers arranged for these sexual assaults well in advance, using the promise of luxury experiences, travel and accommodations to lure and entice women to locations where they were then forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men, including one or more of the Alexander brothers,” the indictment said.
The allegedly “long-running sex trafficking scheme” began in 2010 and relied on “deception, fraud and coercion,” with the brothers flaunting their wealth to induce women to attend parties, events and trips where they were then attacked, prosecutors said.
Trips were organized in advance and the brothers allegedly shared photographs of women to make sure they were “sufficiently attractive.” The brothers used dating apps or social media to contact them or used party planners as intermediaries, according to the indictment.
The Alexanders also procured drugs, including GHB and cocaine, and would sometimes spike women’s drinks before assaulting them, the indictment said.
The brothers allegedly held down women and “ignored screams and explicit requests to stop.”
The indictment includes two victims, identified only as Victim 1 and Victim 2, and charges the brothers with conspiracy and forcible sex trafficking.
The brothers began their careers at Douglas Elliman, focusing on the real estate market in New York and Miami. They left and launched their own firm, Official, in 2022.
They had previously been accused in civil lawsuits of various acts of sexual misconduct.
(NEW YORK) — He was an Ivy League graduate and the valedictorian of his class at a private all-boys high school in Baltimore, where his wealthy family is prominent in the real estate business and owns country clubs and golf courses. Despite having a privileged background, Luigi Mangione was described by friends as “humble” and believed to be destined for a “bright future.”
But all that changed on Monday when the 26-year-old Mangione was named by police as the prime suspect in the brazen targeted shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson that unfolded in the middle of New York City and captured the nation’s attention.
“He was absolutely not a violent person as far as I could tell,” R.J. Martin, Mangione’s former roommate, told ABC News.
Martin said Mangione’s arrest in the murder case was “beyond shock.”
“It’s unimaginable,” Martin said.
Mangione was charged Monday night with second-degree murder in the killing of 50-year-old Thompson.
Investigators suspect that Mangione held a grudge against the medical insurance agency and may have been inspired by Ted Kaczynski, the mathematician-turn-domestic terrorist known as the “Unabomber” who blamed technology for a decline of individual freedom and mailed handcrafted explosives to targeted individuals between 1978 and 1995.
As police were escorting Mangione into a court hearing Tuesday in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, he yelled to reporters gathered at the scene, “It is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people” before officers wrestled with him and hustled him into the courthouse.
Thompson, who lived in Minnesota, was walking alone on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk around 6:40 a.m. last Wednesday, heading to his company’s shareholders conference at the New York Hilton, when a mask and hooded gunman was captured on surveillance cameras lying in wait. The shooter calmly pulled out a 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a silencer and opened fire from behind, police said.
After an intense five-day manhunt that took police to multiple states, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, when a customer recognized him from surveillance photos and alerted an employee of the fast-food chain who called 911.
Altoona police officers confronted Mangione, who was wearing a medical mask and sitting alone at the rear of the McDonald’s looking at a laptop. They wrote in a criminal complaint that when they asked Mangione whether he had recently been in New York City, the suspect “became quiet and started to shake.”
During a news conference following the arrest, Altoona police officer Tyler Frye said he and his partner asked the man to pull down his mask.
“As soon as we pulled that down, or we asked him to pull it down, me and my partner recognized him immediately, just from what we saw in the media with photos, videos, we just didn’t even think twice about it. We knew that was our guy,” Frye said.
Document found on suspect ‘speaks to both motive and mindset’
Mangione appeared in court Monday night in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and fraudulent pieces of identification. During his arrangement, the defendant, who appeared in court without an attorney, offered insight into his family history, suggesting he has been estranged from his relatives in recent months.
Despite his family’s wealth and prestige in the Baltimore area, Mangione requested on a court form that a public defender represent him. Though he has since retained a defense attorney, Thomas Dickey.
When a judge asked if he had been in touch with his family, Mangione said he was in touch “until recently.”
A Pennsylvania prosecutor asked the judge to hold Mangione without bail, saying the defendant had several thousand dollars in cash on him at the time of his arrest.
Mangione asked the judge to “correct” details the district attorney shared in court, specifically about how much money he had on him.
“I don’t have that much money,” he said, suggesting the cash was “a plant or something.”
Document speaks to ‘motivation’: Police
In a backpack Mangione had with him, police allegedly found a black 3D printed pistol and a black silencer, which was also 3D printed, that appears to match the weapon used to kill Thompson, according to the criminal complaint. They also discovered a three-page document on Mangione that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said “speaks to both his motivation and mindset.”
In an interview Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said the handwritten document from Mangione may shed light on why the executive of the country’s biggest insurance company was targeted.
“He does make some indication that he’s frustrated with the healthcare system in the United States, specifically he states how we are No. 1 most expensive healthcare system in the world … he was writing a lot about his disdain for corporate America,” Kenny said.
Sources with knowledge of the document told ABC News that UnitedHealthcare was mentioned in the document, but Tisch said it remains under investigation if Mangione has a personal connection to the healthcare giant.
Law enforcement sources also told ABC News that the document says “These parasites had it coming” and “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.”
Mangione “appeared to view the targeted killing … as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and ‘power games,'” according to a confidential assessment by the NYPD intelligence bureau and described to ABC News by a source. Mangione allegedly described himself as the “first to face” UnitedHealthcare “with such brutal honesty,” according to the assessment.
Among the writings recovered in a spiral notebook were alleged plans concocting how to eventually kill the UnitedHealthcare CEO, according to law enforcement officials.
“What do you do? You whack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” one passage allegedly said, according to the officials.
The notebook also allegedly makes reference to the Unabomber, but the writings said that using explosives could “risk innocents,” according to the officials.
Detectives are still examining Mangione’s writings but are considering the contents of the notebook to represent a confession, sources said.
To plead not guilty
Dickey told reporters on Tuesday that Mangione will plead not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges. He said he anticipates that Mangione will also plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.
The attorney said he has limited information about the facts of the New York murder case but he conceded Mangione is “accused of some serious matters.” He added that Mangione is “taking it as well as he can.”
Dickey told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that he had “not been made aware of any evidence that links the gun that was found on his person to the crime.”
“A lot of guns look the same,” Dickey said. “If you brought a gun in and said, ‘Well, it looks like that,’ I don’t even know if that evidence would be admissible. And if so, I would argue that it wouldn’t be given much weight.”
Dickey also cautioned that anyone speculating on the case should take the potential evidence “in its entirety,” not taking pieces of writing or other evidence “out of context.”
Family ‘shocked and devastated’
As investigators sift through Mangione’s online activity, they are examining multiple social media posts that suggest he may have suffered a major back injury including a photo of an X-ray of a spine posted on X and at least two books about back injuries on his Goodreads profile.
Martin told ABC News that he was aware of Mangione’s back surgery.
“I knew he was going to have a surgery so earlier this year I checked in with him,” Martin said. “He confirmed to me that he had had the surgery and he sent me X-rays. It looked heinous with giant screws going into his spine.”
Another high school classmate of Mangione, who asked not to be identified, told ABC News that the suspect had undergone back surgery in recent months.
“Whether it was complications from his back surgery or personal issues with his family and the healthcare system, it definitely came as a huge huge surprise just because he’s not the type of person to do this without reason,” the classmate said.
Mangione’s family released a statement Monday saying they are “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” Mangione’s cousin, Maryland Republican Delegate Nino Mangione, who represents parts of Baltimore County, wrote on X on behalf of the family.
Mangione’s extended family owns Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, Maryland, Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland and WCBM, an AM talk radio station based out of Owings Mills, according to ABC affiliate station WMAR.
High school valedictorian
In Baltimore, Mangione attended Gilman School, an all-boys private school with an annual tuition of nearly $40,000. He was the valedictorian of his 2016 graduating class.
“The class of 2016’s inventiveness also stems from its incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things,” Mangione said in his valedictorian speech.
The school said in a statement that Mangione’s “suspected involvement in this case is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation.”
The friend who asked not to be identified said Mangione “was not a problematic kid” in high school.
“In high school, he’d never really got into trouble, was not attention seeking or anything like that. Just a bright kid with a bright future,” the friend said.
Mangione is a May 2020 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, according to a school spokesperson. He studied computer science and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from the Ivy League institution.
Following his graduation, Mangione worked as a data engineer at online car marketplace TrueCar, Inc. beginning in November 2020, according to a LinkedIn account that appears to belong to Mangione.
A representative for TrueCar said that Mangione stopped working for the company in 2023.
Mangione’s last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was arrested in November 2023 for trespassing in a Hawaii state park, court records show. He pleaded no contest and was ordered to pay a $100 fine.
NYPD officials said a background check of Mangione has, so far, uncovered no other criminal in New York and throughout the rest of the country.
Mangione also has ties to San Francisco, where in 2019 he worked as a head program counselor at Stanford University, according to a school representative.
His family was searching for him
The friend who asked not to be identified said Mangione fell off the radar of his family and friends about six months ago.
The classmate said he was notified by other classmates that Mangione’s family was “inquiring about his whereabouts.”
Mangione’s mother filed a missing person report in November with the San Francisco Police Department, seeking information on her son’s whereabouts, two law enforcement sources told ABC News. Both the San Francisco police chief and a spokesperson for the department referred further questions about that inquiry to the NYPD.
“I didn’t hear anything about him until today when all the news dropped,” the friend said on Monday. “It really sucks for his family, who must be going through it right now.”
Unabomber manifesto review
A Goodreads account that appears to belong to Mangione left a four-star review on Ted Kaczynski’s “Industrial Society and Its Future” — more commonly known as the “Unabomber manifesto.”
In the review, Mangione described Kaczynski as “a violent individual — rightfully imprisoned — who maimed innocent people.”
“While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy Luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary,” Mangione wrote.
A source confirmed to ABC News that the Goodreads account is part of the law enforcement investigation.
According to the NYPD intelligence analysis conducted in the case, “Mangione may have found inspiration in Ted Kaczynski — the violent, anti-technology extremist known as the Unabomber — echoing in his note and reflecting in his targeting a similar mindset of the need for unilateral action to bring attention to abusive corporate actions.”
This story has been updated.
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, Madison Burinsky, Kate Holland, Chris Looft, Sabina Ghebremedhin, Kaitlyn Morris, Hannah Prince and Alexandra Myers contributed to this report.
