Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old, who is accused of allegedly killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, has drawn attention not only for the high-profile nature of the victim but also for the complex legal battle unfolding around charges that include murder and terrorism. However, a judge in New York state dismissed two terrorism charges against Mangione but kept second-degree murder charges on Tuesday, as per a report.

Luigi Mangione’s Background and Early Life

Mangione is from a prominent family in the Baltimore area, who are known for businesses including country clubs, nursing homes and a radio station, as per a BBC News report. His paternal grandparents, Nicholas and Mary Mangione, were reportedly real estate developers who purchased the Turf Valley Country Club in 1978 and Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley in 1986, according to the report.

The suspected killer has attended the private all-boys Gilman School in Baltimore and was a valedictorian, an accolade usually bestowed on the student with the highest academic achievements, as per the BBC News report.

Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he pursued his bachelor's and master's degree in computer science and also founded a video game development club, according to the report.

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He was then employed as a data engineer for TrueCar, a digital retailing website for new and used cars, but a company spokesman told the BBC that he had not worked there since 2023, as per the report.

Mangione had also spent time in a co-living surfing community in Hawaii called Surfbreak, but a person who knew him then, told CBS that he left due to a back injury, which had worsened from surfing and hiking.

The BBC, citing a law enforcement, reported in April that, Mangione was allegedly motivated to murder Thompson by resentment at what he called "parasitic" health insurance companies.

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Brian Thompson Shooting: Key Details of Incident

Thompson was shot and murdered by a masked gunman on the streets of midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024, a few hours before he was set to speak at UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference, as per NBC News. The shooter fled the scene on a bike, riding it into Central Park, which led to a manhunt and days later, an employee at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, called police and said they saw a man wearing a medical mask, Mangione, who they believed matched images authorities released of the shooter, as per the report.

Manhunt and Arrest: How Authorities Captured Luigi Mangione

Mangione was then arrested and brought back to New York to face state charges and in April this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione, according to NBC News. Then, in June, prosecutors had released what they described as writings connecting Mangione to Thompson's death, as per the report.

His lawyers have argued that the writings and other evidence which was seized at the time of his arrest should be suppressed as authorities conducted a warrantless search of their client’s belongings, as per NBC News.

Judge Gregory Carro’s Ruling on Luigi Mangione's Terrorism Charges Explained

On Tuesday, September 19, Mangione appeared in a Manhattan courtroom, where the judge overseeing Mangione’s state criminal case, New York Judge Gregory Carro, dismissed the charges of murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism against him, ruling the charges were "legally insufficient," as reported by NBC News. Carro ruled that prosecutors had presented "legally sufficient evidence of all other counts, including Murder in the Second Degree," as per the report. However, he still faces federal charges and other state charges in Pennsylvania, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to, as per NBC News.

Carro wrote in his ruling that, "While the People place great emphasis on defendant’s ‘ideological’ motive, there is no indication in the statute that a murder committed for ideological reasons (in this case, the defendant’s apparent desire to draw attention to what he perceived as inequities or greed within the American health care system), fits within the definition of terrorism, without establishing the necessary element of an intent to intimidate or coerce," as quoted by NBC News.

He also added that, "While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population,’ and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal," as quoted in the report.

FAQs

Who is Luigi Mangione?
A 27-year-old man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.

Why were terrorism charges dropped against Mangione?
The judge ruled that while Mangione’s actions were motivated by ideology, they didn’t meet the legal definition of terrorism.