A New York judge has tossed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s terrorism charges against suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.
The suspected killer appeared court Tuesday morning shortly after the NYPD warned that business leaders and political figures may be at an increased risk less than a week after a sniper shot and killed Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk during a public event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Mangione faces a slew of state and federal charges after police allege he stalked and ambushed Brian Thompson, the health insurer’s chief executive and a married father of two from Minnesota who was visiting New York City for an investor conference.
The judge declined to rule on other pending motions, including whether Mangione is facing double jeopardy or on the legality of a controversial subpoena to his health insurance provider, Aetna. He’s due back in court on Dec. 1.
There are concerns that he has inspired copycats. He allegedly wrote messages on shell casings found at the scene. The suspected Kirk assassin also allegedly etched memes and anti-fascist rhetoric onto cartridges found in the alleged murder weapon.
Kirk had warned of a rise in “assassination culture” before his murder, which came as he was discussing politicized mass shootings with someone in the audience last Wednesday. Researchers are now also echoing his concern.
The NYPD’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureau is reportedly warning businesses, political groups and other public figures that the risk of more assassinations remains elevated, ABC News reported Tuesday, citing an internal threat assessment.
“These individuals likely remain vulnerable at open-air speaking engagements and public events, which have been targeted by malicious actors seeking to advance political or ideological agendas and/or draw attention to unique personal grievances through violence,” the assessment reads, as quoted by the outlet.
Around Manhattan, increased security measures were visible Tuesday. At the Blackstone building, where a gunman burst in and killed four people in July, more than a dozen security guards were seen outside the front door.
Mangione, an Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, has pleaded not guilty to nine state-level charges in New York, including murder as an act of terrorism.
He faces stalking and other charges at the federal level as well as firearms and forgery charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.
Despite the allegations against him, he has received an alarming amount of support online, and supporters have been seen rallying outside his court appearances dressed up like the character Luigi from “Super Mario Bros.”
At an earlier hearing, court officers seized a note addressed to him written on heart-shaped paper, smuggled into the building in a pair of socks sent with civilian clothes he had been allowed to wear instead of a jailhouse jumpsuit.
His attorneys arrived at Manhattan’s criminal courthouse a few minutes before his 9 a.m. hearing in front of Judge Gregory Carro.
Thompson, 50, spent 20 years working for UnitedHealth Group and became CEO of the UnitedHealthcare subsidiary in April 2021, according to his online bio. He had two children.
