US prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in December.
In February, Mangione, 26, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the shooting of Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in New York City.
US attorney general Pam Bondi has now released a statement saying she has “directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case”.
She called the murder of the 50-year-old CEO a "premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America".
Mangione pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the shooting of Brian Thompson
ReutersShe claimed her intervention is part of US President Donald Trump’s "agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again".
Because the shooting occurred outdoors with “bystanders nearby”, she said there could have been a "grave risk of death to additional persons".
The US Department of Justice stated that Bondi's actions were consistent with her "day one memo as attorney general," titled "Reviving the Federal Death Penalty and Lifting the Moratorium on Federal Executions."
The 26-year-old is accused of shooting Thompson in the early morning of December 4, 2024, as he headed to a conference.
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He was arrested on December 9 at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a nationwide manhunt .
He is also facing charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a license, as well as other counts in Pennsylvania.
Authorities have claimed he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten note expressing “ill will” towards corporate America.
Mangione is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Brooklyn.
26-year-old Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson in the early morning of December 4, 2024 as he headed to a conference
Wikimedia Commons/Reuters/LinkedinThompson's death sparked a broad debate about the functioning of the US healthcare system.
Many Americans - who face higher healthcare costs than those in any other country - voiced their frustration over what they perceive as unjust treatment by insurance companies.
In December, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas branded the rhetoric on social media after the killing “extraordinarily alarming”.
Speaking to CBS’s Face the Nation, he said: "It speaks of what is really bubbling here in this country, and unfortunately we see that manifested in violence, the domestic violent extremism that exists."
