By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-06 12:45:20 | Updated at 2025-01-07 22:19:54
1 day ago
Accused killer Luigi Mangione hit up an expensive gun range during a trip to Thailand — just months before he allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the Big Apple, his travel friends have claimed.
The 26-year-old accused assassin visited the gun range after fleeing the US on a solo Asia trip early last year, two German tourists who met him during his travels told TMZ’s new “Luigi Mangione: The Mind of a Killer” documentary.
Mangione opted to skip a beach day and head to the range instead, according to the friends — who were only identified as Paul and Max.
The pair, who said they traveled extensively with Mangione through Asia, also claimed he was obsessed with Indian author Jash Dholani’s book, “Hit Reverse: New Ideas From Old Books,” which examines philosophical viewpoints from a range of others.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.
- Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice.
- Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband had been getting threats before he was killed.
- Thompson’s shooting led to sick support online, and even spurred a tasteless lookalike competition in NYC.
- A person of interest has been nabbed by police officers inside a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, originally from Towson, Md. He’s an Ivy League graduate who hated the medical community.
Follow along with The Post’s live updates on the news surrounding Brian Thompson’s murder.
He even apparently purchased 400 copies of the book and flew to Mumbai to try and give the author his personal feedback, the German travelers said.
The apparent shooting range visit came just months before Mangione, who lost touch with his family at some point during his Asia trip and was eventually reported missing, suddenly re-surfaced in New York City and allegedly shot dead the healthcare boss on Dec. 4.
Mangione, an Ivy League-educated tech whiz who railed about the health care industry in a manifesto, was later nabbed in Pennsylvania following a five-day manhunt.
He pleaded not guilty late last month to a slew of charges tied to the cold-blooded killing.
