Wednesday, December 11

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO has been arrested by police, and he has been identified as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione.

Around one week ago, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot as he was entering the New York Hilton Midtown, with an attacker lying in wait for him in front of the building with a gun. The attack fired multiple times and then quickly walked away. Read more on the initial incident here.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the New York Police Department (NYPD) instantly responded to the shooting, launching an intense search for the criminal and discovering clues along the way. The investigation uncovered dozens of pieces of evidence that led them to believe that the shooter had left New York City, expanding the search to other states along the East Coast. Read more on the investigation here.

During the investigation, police had also found several pieces of evidence that gave clues to the identity of the suspect, including photos of him in a taxi and on the street. While he had a mask on in both pictures, they also posted a picture showing his entire face, which was crucial to the discovery of his identity. However, officials were also not able to trace the gun he had used, further complicating the mystery. For days, people called in hundreds of tips, and the police department was forced to follow up on each one. Of course, all of these tips were false, but the work finally became worth it when police responded to another tip in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

An employee at a local McDonald's called in a tip saying that there was a man inside the restaurant who seemed to look like the suspect in the shooting, as seen from the photos posted by the FBI and NYPD. Police arrived to find the man sitting at a table in the back, where they asked him some questions over his identity. He held up an ID, but began shaking after further questioning. They pulled up the ID in their records and found that it was fake, forcing him to give his real name. He was then arrested and taken into custody.

Luigi Mangione, the culprit, was an educated young man, growing up in Maryland and attending the Gilman School, a private all-boys school in Baltimore. He graduated as valedictorian in 2016, and also went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, a prestigious Ivy League school, where he studied computer science.

Mangione has been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm, and one count of second-degree possession of a forged document.

He was later found to have a 3D-printed gun and silencer in his backpack, explaining the untraceability of the gun. Homemade guns are known as ghost guns, and have become a problem in recent years due to the fact that they do not have a serial number, therefore making them untraceable by law enforcement. They also discovered that the false ID he gave them, which was from New Jersey, matched the fake ID used to register at the hotel the shooter stayed at in New York, further connecting the dots for police.

Lastly, police found a written declaration of his motives inside the backpack, revealing his true intentions during the shooting. The sheet explained his anger towards health insurance companies for putting profits over care, mentioning UnitedHealthcare by name. UnitedHealthcare denies more claims than any other health insurance company, a staggering one-third of all claims, building up frustration with the public against the company. While the company is very successful on paper --according to Forbes, UnitedHealthcare is currently the fourth-largest company in the United States by revenue -- people have criticized the company for constantly denying claims while the costs of health insurance rise, insisting that the company is only making large profits due to their low payout rate.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Due to a metal shortage during World War II, the Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones.

Quote of the Day: The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create.

(Leonard Sweet)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Brogue (noun)- A brogue is a low shoe, usually made of leather, that is decorated with small holes along the sides at the toe, and that usually features a wing tip.

In a Sentence: Even though his brogues are scuffed and old, Dad prefers them to his new loafers.