A man with a gun thought to be similar to the one used in the killing of UnitedHealthcare was taken into police custody Monday for questioning in Pennsylvania, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.
A law enforcement official said the person in custody showed police a fake identification believed to be the same one that the man who killed Thompson used to check into a hostel in New York, had a gun with a silencer, and a handwritten manifesto criticizing healthcare companies.
The man in Pennsylvania was identified as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who was born and raised in Maryland, had ties to San Francisco, and lived in Honolulu until recently.
Mangione was taken into custody around 9:15 am on Monday after police received a tip that he was eating at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania. He had a three-page, handwritten document suggesting he had "ill will toward corporate America," as well as a "ghost gun" -- a type of weapon that can be assembled at home and is difficult to trace.
He was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs and a U.S. passport, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. Officers also found a suppressor "consistent with the weapon used in the murder," Tisch said.
Mangione also had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter, and a fake New Jersey ID matching the one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, Tisch said.
He was valedictorian of his Maryland prep school, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a university spokesman told the Associated Press.
He learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication.
His social media posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends at the Jersey Shore and in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and other destinations.
The Gilman School, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is one of Baltimore's most elite prep schools. Some of the city's wealthiest and most prominent people, including Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have had children attend the school. Its alumni includes sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington.
In his valedictory speech, Mangione described his classmates' "incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things," according to a post on the school website. He praised their collective inventiveness and pioneering mindset.
In an email to parents and alumni, Gilman headmaster Henry P.A. Smyth said the school "recently" learned that Mangione was arrested in the CEO's killing.
"We do not have any information other than what is being reported in the news," Smyth wrote. "This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected."
Mangione is being held near Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The NYPD is sending detectives to Pennsylvania to question the person taken into custody. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected to address this development at a previously scheduled afternoon press briefing in Manhattan.
Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday in what police said was a "brazen, targeted" attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
The shooter appeared to be "lying in wait for several minutes" before approaching the executive from behind and , NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. He used a 9 mm pistol that police said resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise.
In the days since the shooting, police turned to the public for help by releasing a collection of photos and video -- including footage of the attack, as well as images of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.
Photos taken in the lobby of a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side showed the suspect grinning after removing his mask, police said.
Ammunition found near Thompson's body "delay," "deny," and "depose," mimicking a phrase used by .
Monday's development came as dogs and divers returned to New York's Central Park while the dragnet for stretched into a sixth day.
Investigators have been combing the park since the Wednesday shooting and have been searching at least one of its ponds for three days, looking for evidence that may have been thrown into it.
On Friday, police in the park that they say the killer discarded as he fled from the crime scene to an uptown bus station, where they believe he left the city on a bus.
On Monday, K-9 units sniffed leaf-covered planters between walking paths in Central Park near where police found the shooter's backpack. Farther along the path that police suspect he took through the park after the shooting, scuba divers geared up and started searching a pond for the third straight day.
using surveillance video, investigators said the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle, emerged from the park without his backpack, and then ditched the bicycle.
He then walked a couple blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
The FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone.
Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspect that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue mask.
Through the park search, the NYPD has taken steps to minimize disruption to visitors, leading to an odd juxtaposition of joggers, tourists, and an active crime scene.
On Monday, a small section of the park was cordoned off with blue and white police tape, giving divers an area to change and get in the water.
At one point, a group of about 30 French-speaking tourists followed a guide down a path, but they couldn't go any further because of the police tape. Before turning back, many of them whipped out their phones to snap a photo of the divers.