28-year-old Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. "I shot Mr. Thompson. I knew I was committing a crime," he stated in court on Friday, according to the New York Times.
Mangione had previously denied responsibility. The publication did not clarify why he changed his position at this time.
He faces life imprisonment. The verdict will be announced in December 2026.
What happened a year ago
50-year-old Thompson was shot in the early morning of December 4, 2024, near the Hilton hotel on Manhattan, as he was heading to UnitedHealthcare's annual investor conference. The attacker fled on a bicycle through Central Park and later left the city by bus.
Police arrested Mangione five days later in a neighboring state. He turned out to be a native of Maryland. During a search, authorities found a three-page manifesto condemning insurance companies.
The bullet casings left at the crime scene had the words "deny, defence, depose" engraved on them – how critics describe the typical strategy of insurers: deny payment, defend in court, drag out the process.
How he prepared it
In court, Mangione explained that he learned the location of the UnitedHealthcare conference by posing as an investor in the company. The weapon – a pistol printed on a 3D printer – he said he manufactured himself.
Some Americans viewed the murder not as a crime, but as an act of resistance against a system they consider unjust, and publicly defended the accused.
The scale of the company behind this murder
UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, is the largest health insurer in the United States by revenue and number of customers. The company provides health insurance to tens of millions of Americans.
The guilty plea closes the question of the fact of the murder itself, but does not address the broader issue: whether the American health insurance system is ready to respond in any way to the grievances that made the killer a hero for part of society.
