Luigi Mangione, the former Ivy League student arrested and charged in Pennsylvania on Monday in connection to the apparent assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last week, likely won’t be extradited for several days.
Mangione, 26, was detained at the Altoona Police Department in Pennsylvania after an area McDonald’s manager recognized him around 9:15 a.m. Monday. Four fake IDs, a gun and silencer resembling those used in the shooting, and a manifesto denouncing the health insurance industry were found on his person.
Members of the FBI and NYPD, including New York Deputy Commissioner of Community Operations Kaz Daughtry, arrived at the station in the hours after Mangione was arrested. Members of the New York District Attorney’s Office also arrived, Fox News Digital confirmed.
Mangione was charged with forgery, firearms not to be carried without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of a crime and false identification to law enforcement authorities, according to a police criminal complaint.
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Although his arrest was “peaceful,” per Altoona police, Mangione did not speak to interrogators and was put in a holding cell.
“Suspect didn’t say a word. He refused to talk,” a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.
John Ryan, a 45-year veteran who previously served as lieutenant task force commander with the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, said it was unlikely he would be extradited to New York City for several days.
Around 6:30 p.m., Mangione was arraigned in Blair County Court in Hollidaysburg. Prosecutors said he was carrying $10,000 in cash, including $2,000 in foreign currency, although Mangione disputed the amount. He allegedly had been in Pennsylvania for several days and said he had been in contact with his family “until recently.”
Now that he’s been charged locally, Ryan said, authorities need to decide whether to pursue local or federal charges.
“If they decide to charge him federally, that’s a whole [different] court system,” Ryan said. “The reporting is that he’s in possession of a ghost gun, which is a federal charge, so I think … they will eventually charge him federally.”
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“[After] an initial appearance on the gun charge locally, and then they’ll wait to serve the papers on him for the warrants, indictments there in New York City, if that hasn’t happened yet,” former FBI Agent Jason Pack told Fox News Digital.
Pack said Mangione’s future movement will depend on whether he waives extradition.
“He’ll either waive extradition or they’ll have a hearing, and the judge will decide whether to extradite or not. If the judge decides to extradite, then they’ll get a governor’s warrant, I think, to do the extradition,” Pack said.
After the suspect in Thompson’s murder fled the scene, NYPD investigators found a water bottle in the alley he used to allegedly escape; investigators also scoured the backpack left in Central Park and believed to belong to the shooter for DNA.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a Monday press conference that the agency had an “enormous” amount of forensic evidence in the case.
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Police in Pennsylvania can swab anyone suspected of a crime that could result in a prison sentence for DNA, per state law. If a detainee refuses to be swabbed, a judge can force their hand with a court order.
Ryan said the samples would likely be sent to either the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, or to Pennsylvania State Police facilities due to the likely limited capabilities of local police.
“My belief [is] they already have secured DNA from him, and then it’s a matter of it being tested,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of circumstantial evidence already. The DNA will be another thing that will link him to the incident [In New York City].”
“I would think it would be days [before Mangione is extradited] unless they charge him federally,” Ryan said.
Ryan commended local police for their swift response in Mangione’s capture.
“People have to give credit to that local police department also. With the number of tips that have come in, something like this is something that they could’ve very easily blown off instead of responding to,” he said. “The fact that they responded, conducted the interview and then during the interview found discrepancies that led them to recover multiple IDs and the weapon is kudos to them. Without them, we wouldn’t be having the discussion.”
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