Luigi Mangione charged with murder as an act of terrorism
CBC
The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare's CEO has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors said Tuesday as they worked to bring him to a New York court from a Pennsylvania jail.
Luigi Mangione already was charged with murder in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson, but the terror allegation is new.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thompson's death on a midtown Manhattan street "was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we've seen that reaction."
"This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation," he said at a news conference Tuesday.
"It occurred in one of the most bustling parts of our city, threatened the safety of local residents and tourists alike, commuters and businesspeople just starting out on their day."
Mangione's New York lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, declined to comment.
Thompson, 50, was shot dead while walking to a hotel where Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare — the United States' biggest medical insurer — was holding an investor conference.
The killing kindled a fiery outpouring of resentment toward U.S. health insurance companies, as Americans swapped stories online and elsewhere of being denied coverage, left in limbo as doctors and insurers disagreed, and stuck with sizeable bills.
The shooting has also rattled C-suites, as "wanted" posters with other health-care executives' names and faces appeared on New York streets and some social media users extolled Mangione's deed as payback.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday that "any attempt to rationalize this is vile, reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice."
A New York law passed after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 allows prosecutors to charge crimes as acts of terrorism when they're "intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping."
Prosecutors have used the statute in a variety of contexts. Some related to international extremism, but the law was first used against a Bronx gang member after a hail of gunfire killed a 10-year-old girl and paralyzed a man outside a christening party in 2002. The state's highest court later said the conduct didn't amount to terrorism, and a retrial produced convictions on other charges.
Thompson's killing, Bragg noted, happened early on a workday in an area frequented by commuters, businesspeople and tourists.
"This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation," the district attorney said.
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WARNING: This story contains images of dead bodies and graphic physical injuries.
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