McDonald's Employee Who Alerted Authorities About Alleged Brian Thompson Assassin Could Get More Than a Year's Salary If Rewarded For The Tip

The name of Luigi Mangione is dominating the news cycle after he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, as a result of being a person of interest in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last week.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that local authorities apprehended Mangione, 26, after getting a tip that a man who fit the description of the suspect in the killing of Thompson was at a McDonald's near Altoona. The tipster was then identified as a McDonald's employee.

Should Mangione be confirmed as the killer of Thompson and convicted, the employee could be eligible to receive the $50,000 reward the FBI is offering for information leading to such an outcome.

The figure could potentially higher than the tipster's yearly salary: according to recruiting platform ZipRecruiter, the average McDonald's crew salary in Pennsylvania stands at $14 an hour. If the tipster works eight hours a day and 25 days a month, he or she would earn $2,800 a month. Multiplied by 12, the yearly figure clocks in at $33,600, meaning the reward would in fact amount to a year and a half's salaries.

Mangione was taken in by local police and will face charges in Altoona, police said, with authorities also finding a three-page-long manifesto that "speaks to both his motivation and mindset."

NYC's Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny added that Mangione was born and raised in Maryland and that his last known address was in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Regarding the gun, Kenny said that it "appears to be a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, capable of firing a 9 mm round." Mangione also had the same fake ID that was used to check into a New York City hostel in November.

Thompson, 50, was in New York City for the company's annual investors meeting Wednesday when he was ambushed by a masked shooter who fired off several rounds into his back and leg, leaving him mortally wounded.

Preliminary evidence indicated Thompson's murder was a "premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who confirmed the suspect was "lying in wait" for at least five minutes before he approached the victim, told reporters at a press conference last week.

At the crime scene, investigators recovered live 9mm rounds and three discharged casings engraved with words "deny," "depose," and "defend," as reported by the New York Post. The words appear to allude to the title of Jay Feinman's book "Delay, Deny, Defend," which criticizes the practices of insurance companies.