Fingerprints found on a water bottle and KIND bar wrapper near the scene of the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson are a match to accused killer Luigi Mangione, and shell casings recovered at the scene came from the gun he was carrying when nabbed five days later, cops say.
“We were able to match that gun to the three shell casings that we found in Midtown at the scene of the homicide,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re also able in our crime lab to match the person of interest’s fingerprints with fingerprints that we found on both the water bottle and the Kind bar near the scene of the homicide in Midtown.”
Mangione, who is facing second-degree murder charges in New York, is being held in Pennsylvania as he fights extradition.
Cops are also investigating an emergency room visit by Mangione, who suffered a back injury on July 4, 2023. The visit is being investigating in connection with the alleged killer’s apparent animosity towards the health care industry. Investigators are monitoring his Facebook account, which was said to have highlighted the difficulties he went through as a result of the injury.
A phone that was recovered by police after the shooting is still being processed for DNA evidence. It is believed that Mangione used a so-called “faraday bag” to shield his phone from detection.
“That bag he used to put the phone into it so police could not track his phone. It doesn’t transmit a signal. It’s as if you wrap it up in aluminum foil,” a police official told the Daily News.
Cops also recovered a bag of bullets near Mangione’s backpack that was found in Central Park. The bag of bullets are being tested to see if they are connected to Mangione, sources said.
Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson, 50, as he walked to a Hilton hotel on W. 54th St. and Sixth Ave. where the victim was about to address colleagues and company investors at a conference on Dec. 4.
At a press conference Tuesday night at his office in Altoona, Penn., where Mangione was arrested and is being held, lawyer Thomas Dickey said he hadn’t seen any evidence that his client is guilty of the caught-on-camera slaying.
“I have not seen one scintilla, one speck, one drop of any evidence yet,” said Dickey, before vowing that his client would be pleading not guilty to “every charge”.
Mangione appeared in court in Blair County Tuesday, a day after his arrest at a McDonald’s after a customer and worker recognized him from widely circulated surveillance video images.
Dickey said he would continue to fight extradition to New York, adding it would be a lengthy process and that he and Mangione would approach it methodically.
Mangione has yet to make any statements to police.
