NEW YORK (AP) — Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.
The discovery that Mangione is fighting to exclude evidence from his New York murder case, reiterated in court Monday, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.
“It’s him, man. It’s him, 100%,” an officer is heard saying in body-worn camera video from Mangione’s Dec. 9, 2024, arrest, punctuating the remark as bag-combing officer Christy Wasser grabs a magazine.
Wasser, a 19-year Altoona police veteran, testified on the fourth day of a preliminary hearing as Mangione seeks to bar prosecutors from using magazines and other evidence, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook found during a search of the bag.
Mangioni, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. He appeared in good health on Monday, carefully watching videos and occasionally scribbling notes. The hearing, which began on December 1 and was adjourned on Friday due to his apparent illness, applies only to the state’s case. His lawyers are making a similar push to exclude evidence from his federal case, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors said a handgun found in a backpack matched the gun used in the killing, and writings in a notebook showed Mangioni’s distaste for the idea of killing health insurers and the CEO at an investor conference.
Mangione’s attorneys argue the items should be excluded because police did not have a search warrant for the backpack. Prosecutors argued the search was legal and officers eventually obtained a warrant.
Wasser, testifying in full uniform, said she was following Altoona police protocols that require an immediate search of a suspect’s property at the time of an arrest to check for potentially dangerous items. In body-worn camera footage she played in court, she was heard saying she wanted to check the bag for a bomb before removing it from McDonald’s.
Wasser told another officer that she did not want a repeat of the incident in which another Altoona officer inadvertently brought a bomb into the police station.
Thompson, 50, was killed on December 4, 2024 as he walked into a Manhattan hotel for his company’s investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “denial” and “deposit” were written on the ammunition, mimicking how insurers use phrases to avoid paying claims.
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan, after police there received a 911 call about a McDonald’s customer who looked like the suspect.
Wasser said she had seen some coverage of Thompson’s killing on Fox News before reacting to McDonald’s, including surveillance video of the shooting and images of the suspected shooter.
Wasser began searching his bag as officers took him into custody on preliminary charges of forgery and false identification, police said, after he admitted to having a fake driver’s license. The same fake name was used by the alleged gunman at the Manhattan hostel before the shooting.
Until then, the handcuffed Mangione was informed of his right to remain silent — and invoked it — when asked if there was anything in the bag that officers should be concerned about.
According to body-worn camera video, some of the items Wasser found were unsecured: a hoagie, a loaf of bread and a small bag containing a passport, cellphone and computer chip.
She then took off her underwear, opening the gray pair to reveal a magazine.
Satisfied that there was no bomb, she suspended her search and put some items back in the bag. After finding the gun and silencer, she resumed her search at the police station. Later, while cataloging everything in the bag, known as an inventory search, he found the notebook.
A Blair County, Pennsylvania, prosecutor testified that a judge later signed a search warrant for the bag, hours after the searches were completed. The warrant, she said, gave Altoona police a legal mechanism to turn over evidence to New York City detectives investigating Thompson’s murder.
As he approached the case, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seideman described Thompson’s killing as an “execution” and referred to his notebook as a “manifesto” — terms Mangione’s attorneys said were prejudicial and inappropriate.
Judge Gregory Caro said the wording had “no effect” on him, but warned Seidemann that he “certainly will not do that in the case” when the jurors are present.
