Family of suspected CEO killer 'shocked, devastated,' known for strong support of Jesuit education

(OSV News) -- The suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson hails from a prominent Maryland family whose matriarch was a strong supporter of Jesuit education.

Luigi Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the ambush killing of Thompson, who was gunned down Dec. 4 while walking to a Hilton hotel in New York's midtown Manhattan neighborhood for his company's annual investor conference.

The slaying, captured on video camera, sparked a multistate manhunt, with evidence pointing to a methodically planned killing. A customer at the Altoona restaurant alerted staff to Mangione, and the police were called. The suspect was found with false identification and a gun similar to the one believed to have been used in Thompson's killing.

The New York Times reported police also found a three-page manifesto Mangione had written, in which he appeared to have admitted to the killing while acting alone. The handwritten document references UnitedHealthcare while deploring companies that "continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it."

The Times also noted that people who knew Mangione said he had spine issues, and a significant back surgery in 2023 that appears to have been a spinal fusion involving screws and rods.

The 26-year-old Mangione was initially charged in Pennsylvania with providing false identification to police, possession of an unlicensed firearm and forgery.

The family of Mangione -- a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania -- said in a statement posted on social media Dec. 9 by the suspect's cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione, that they are "shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest."

"Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione," said the family, explaining they only know what they have read in news reports.

"We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved," the family's statement said. "We are devastated by this news."

Luigi Mangione's late grandmother, Mary Mangione, was memorialized by Loyola University Maryland after her March 2023 death, with the university describing her in a tribute as believing "passionately in the value of Catholic Jesuit education."

In 2010, the late Mangione -- who had graduated from Mount St. Agnes College, which later merged with Loyola -- had been awarded the school's presidential medal. She and her husband, Nicholas Mangione, were philanthropists and longtime benefactors of Loyola, helping the school to acquire its permanent exhibition of the St. John's Bible at Loyola's Notre Dame Library.

"Mary Mangione believed passionately in the value of Catholic Jesuit education. Over the years, she and her husband have given generously to strengthen the education and experience we offer to our students," said Loyola president Terrence M. Sawyer in the university's March 28, 2023, tribute to her. "She will be missed and long remembered for the ways in which she helped ensure that our students would continue to grow in mind, body, and spirit for generations to come."

Late Dec. 9, New York prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Luigi Mangione. He is expected to be extradited to the state.