The family of Luigi Mangione, the Ivy League graduate charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, said they were “devastated” by his arrest — as it was revealed the 26-year-old alleged gunman spiraled after undergoing “traumatic” back surgery.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” the family said in a statement shared by his cousin Nino Mangione, a Republican Baltimore County delegate, late Monday.
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news,” the Mangione family said.
The relatives added that they “cannot comment on news reports” regarding the accused killer, who was arrested at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Monday morning following a frantic, five-day manhunt.
“We only know what we have read in the media,” the family said.
Luigi Mangione was reported to police by an Altoona McDonald’s employee who recognized the suspected gunman from photos released by the New York Police Department.
Local cops approached him while he was eating at the restaurant and said he “started to shake” when they asked if he had been to New York recently, according to a criminal complaint.
He provided them with a fake New Jersey ID — believed to be the same one he used when checking into a Manhattan hostel before the killing — and was taken into custody.
Police discovered a ghost gun with a silencer on him and other items that sources said were “consistent” with what police were seeking, including a rambling, handwritten manifesto that claimed “these parasites had it coming.”
“I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done,” he wrote.
Luigi Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.Instagram / Kathy Mangione
Mangione’s family said they were “devastated” by the news of his alleged role in Brian Thompson’s murder.Luigi Mangione/Facebook
Luigi Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania grad, comes from a well-off real estate family prominent in their Maryland community.
He was raised outside Baltimore in Towson and his family owns two sprawling country clubs, a local radio station and several other real estate holdings.
In the weeks leading up to the shooting, he became estranged from his friends and family, according to law enforcement sources.
Mangione’s mother reported him missing Nov. 18 — possibly from a home in San Francisco, where he lived for a time — and reached out to his peers as they tried to track him down.
One of his former classmates at the Gilman School in Baltimore told the New York Times that he believed he went dark after undergoing back surgery several months prior.
A friend and former roommate in Hawaii also told CNN that Mangione had previously spoken of his back issues.
Luigi Mangione was reported to police by an Altoona McDonald’s employee who recognized the suspected gunman from photos released by the New York Police Department.Luigi Mangione/X
“When I first interviewed him, before he moved in, I remember he said he had a back issue, and he was hoping to get stronger in Hawaii,” RJ Martin said.
The roommate said Mangione’s back issues were so “traumatic and difficult” that one basic surfing lesson left him bedridden for a week.
When he underwent surgery, Martin said, his friend sent him images of the X-rays.
Nino Mangione, Luigi’s cousin and a Maryland politician, released the family statement Monday nightFacebook / Nino Mangione
“It looked heinous, with just giant screws going into his spine,” he said.
Other former high school friends said the high-achieving valedictorian went “absolutely crazy” after the surgery, according to Jack Mac, a staffer at sports and pop culture outlet Barstool Sports.
“Spoke with a source that had a lot of friends that went to high school with Luigi Mangione. What keeps coming up is a back surgery that ‘changed everything’ for him and he went ‘absolutely crazy,’” Mac revealed on X.
Mangione “hasn’t made any statements” since his arrest, law enforcement officials said during an evening press conference in Pennsylvania.
Hours after he was arraigned on weapons and forgery charges in Pennsylvania, he was charged in New York with murder.
Thompson, 50, was gunned down last Wednesday as he walked alone and without security to a Hilton hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference.
