MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Coming up, we hear about how Russia might navigate its relationship with Syria after its ally Bashar al-Assad was ousted and took refuge in Moscow.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
First, though, we are learning more this morning about Luigi Mangione.
MARTIN: He is the 26-year-old arrested yesterday and charged late last night with murder in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson was gunned down last week in New York City.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Brian Mann has been following all of this. So, Brian, how did police capture Mangione? And why do they think he's the gunman?
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Yeah, so after Brian Thompson was killed last week, the NYPD was able to isolate one surveillance photo, A, that showed part of the suspect's face. They distributed that photo not just in New York City, but nationwide. Yesterday morning, people at a McDonald's restaurant in central Pennsylvania saw a man who resembled that photo. They called local police, and Altoona, Pennsylvania, Patrolman Tyler Frye was among those who arrived to question the man.
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TYLER FRYE: He was wearing a blue medical mask. 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 didn't even think twice about it. We knew that was our guy.
MANN: Now, it wasn't just the physical resemblance to that photo. Mangione was also allegedly carrying an illegal firearm, false documents and other evidence that police say link him to Thompson's death. So he was arraigned late last night on five relatively low-level state charges in Pennsylvania. Then prosecutors back in Manhattan charged Mangione with second-degree murder, along with other crimes.
MARTÍNEZ: What are they saying about maybe a possible motive?
MANN: You know, we don't know yet why Mangione appeared to target Thompson so deliberately. But speaking yesterday, the NYPD's chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, said Mangione was carrying a three-page handwritten document that may have detailed some of his motives.
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JOSEPH KENNY: We don't think that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America.
MANN: And Mangione's writings on social media also include one post about the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. Mangione expresses fascination with some of Kaczynski's ideas, including the belief that political violence may be necessary.
MARTÍNEZ: Tell us more about Luigi Mangione. Where's he from?
MANN: He came from an affluent family with property and businesses in Maryland, well educated, attended the private Gilman School in Baltimore, where he was valedictorian, and then he went to the University of Pennsylvania, studied computer science. A lot of his early social media posts show an apparently happy young man, a college student, an athlete who lived later in Hawaii. The path that led him from that life to this alleged shooting, A - that's still not clear.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, looking on social media, I mean, some people have essentially described Brian Thompson's killing as a kind of a justice in some kind because he worked for an insurance company that often sparked controversy by denying people's medical claims. I understand that Pennsylvania's governor spoke about that part of the public reaction. What did he have to say?
MANN: Yeah, that's right. Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said last night he understands the health insurance industry has enraged many Americans, but Shapiro blasted people who've embraced what he described as vigilantism.
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JOSH SHAPIRO: In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this - he is no hero. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald's this morning.
MANN: Then Shapiro pointed out that Thompson was a husband, the father of two sons, just 50 years old at the time of his murder. Brian Thompson was buried yesterday in a private ceremony.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Brian Mann in New York. Brian, thank you.
MANN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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