ATLANTA — One of the officers who arrested the man accused of gunning down a health insurance CEO last week in New York City says, “It feels good to get a guy like that off the street.”
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, was taken into custody Monday at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The chance sighting at the restaurant in Altoona led to a dramatic break in a challenging but fast-moving investigation that captivated the public in the five days since the shooting that shook the business world.
Earlier in the evening Monday, he was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.
Late Monday night, officials charged Mangione with murder.
Investigators said an employee called them to the restaurant for someone acting suspiciously.
When officers arrived, they found Mangione sitting in the rear of the McDonald’s wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop computer.
“As soon as we pulled that down, or we asked him to pull it down, me and my partner and I recognized him immediately, just from what we saw in the media with photos, videos, we just didn’t even think twice about it. We knew that was our guy,” Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye said during a news conference Monday.
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When one of the officers asked if he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” according to a criminal complaint based on their accounts of the arrest.
In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed pistol and a 3D-printed black silencer, the complaint said. The pistol had a metal slide and plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel. He was taken into custody at about 9:15 a.m., police said.
Mangione had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu. A message left Monday with a Philadelphia-area phone number connected to Mangione was not immediately returned.
Mangione was arraigned and ordered held without bail during a brief court hearing. Asked if he needed a public defender, he asked if he could “answer that at a future date.” He eventually will be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson’s death, Kenny said.
Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.
He also had a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency, the local prosecutor said. Mangione, who said Hawaii was his most recent address, disputed the amount.
Altoona Deputy Police Chief Derek Swope said the arrest was peaceful and ended the six-day search for a killer.
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel last week around 7 a.m.
Thompson was walking to an investors’ meeting when he was shot from behind.
Police said Mangione immediately ran from the scene, later finding a backpack they believe he was carrying, in Central Park.
Mangione had been staying at a hostel in the city, arriving in New York about 10 days before the shooting.
Police said he took a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta to get into New York City but did not say where they think he got on the bus.
Mangione is currently being held without bond.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.