Person of Interest in UnitedHealthCare Assassination Identified As Former Ivy League Student

Authorities identified the person of interest in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as a former Ivy League student from Maryland, according to a report.

Luigi Mangione, 26, of Towson, Md., was taken into custody Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, sources told the New York Post.

Mangione, described as a tech superstar and former prep school valedictorian, was reportedly found with a manifesto on his person.

He purportedly had a gun suppressor and several fake IDs on him also, reports say.

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.

The killer then fled – first on foot, then by e-bike. He subsequently boarded a bus departing New York City, leaving authorities to believe he is no longer in the area.

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.

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.

Last week, police released surveillance images of the shooter with his face mask pulled down, smiling and flirting with a female front desk worker as he used a fake New Jersey ID to check into the HI New York City Hostel prior to carrying out the deadly incident.

The assassin, who is believed to have arrived in NYC 10 days before the shooting, was also spotted at a nearby Starbucks that same day.

Over the weekend, police released two new photos of the masked suspect appearing in the back of a taxi.

Originally published in Lawyer Herald