Evidence against Luigi Mangione being heard by grand jury, reports say

Prosecutors in Manhattan have begun presenting evidence against Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, to a grand jury, multiple news outlets reported, citing unnamed police sources.

Prosecutors were attempting to secure an indictment, which would bolster their case for extradition, according to ABC News and CBS News.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

Mangione remained in a Pennsylvania prison as investigators gathered more evidence and authorities in New York worked to extradite the 26-year-old to face multiple charges, including second-degree murder. Mangione's lawyer, Thomas Dickey, told reporters he will oppose extradition and his client intends to plead not guilty to all the charges.

Earlier this week, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione's fingerprints matched those discovered at the scene of the Dec. 4 shooting. Additionally, the gun police in Pennsylvania recovered when they arrested Mangione matched the shell casings found in front of the Hilton hotel where Thompson was shot and killed, Tisch said.

Dickey told CNN on Wednesday that would like to see the evidence so he can have it analyzed and then "challenge its admissibility and challenge the accuracy of those results."

More: Timeline: Tracing the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect’s past

Luigi Mangione, his mother were not UnitedHealthcare clients: company

While Mangione complained to friends and wrote online about debilitating back pain, he was not a member of UnitedHealthcare, a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group told USA TODAY on Friday. The company also said Mangione's mother, Kathleen Mangione, was not a client.

New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York on Thursday that while the suspect does not appear to be a client of the health insurance company, he did name it in writings police found when they arrested him in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

"He does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest health care organization in America. So that's possibly why he targeted that company," Kenny told the news outlet.

Kenny said Mangione seems to have endured an accident that caused him a "life-changing injury'' requiring emergency care in July 2023, ''and that's what may have put him on this path."

Investigators with the NYPD "have had no contact" with Mangione's family, Kenny said Thursday.

CEO of UnitedHealth Group acknowledges flawed insurance system

In an op-ed published Friday in The New York Times, Andrew Witty, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, praised his slain colleague and acknowledged the uproar of vitriol against the health care system that has followed the Dec. 4 shooting.

"We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it," he wrote, adding: "We understand and share the desire to build a health care system that works better for everyone. That is the purpose of our organization."

Witty said Thompson exemplified the company's guiding principles by advocating for "making health care more affordable, more transparent, more intuitive, more compassionate — and more human."

Following Thompson’s death, many people on social media glorified the suspect’s alleged actions as a statement against an industry often criticized for its denials of health care coverage. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week said, "Violence to combat any sort of corporate greed is unacceptable."

More: Health insurance CEO shooting unleashes Internet vitriol aimed at industry

New York prosecutors expect Mangione to accept extradition Tuesday

Luigi Mangione won’t fight extradition to New York City after all, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“Indications are that the defendant may waive,” said Bragg, meaning Mangione might accept the extradition order.

Mangione would accept the order in court on Tuesday, Bragg said. The Manhattan attorney touched on what he called the “deeply disturbing shooting” at an unrelated news conference Friday.

The city is still planning to force Mangione’s extradition in case the alleged murderer decides to ultimately fight his removal from Pennsylvania.

“We’ll be ready whether he’s going to waive extradition or contest extradition,” Bragg said.

Police obtain search warrant for burner phone: reports

Investigators secured a search warrant for a phone authorities found in an alley near the scene of last week's shooting, multiple news outlets reported.

The phone, which police believe to be tied to the alleged shooter, was described as a burner phone left behind in an alley before the suspect made his way into Central Park, CNN and ABC News reported.

Law enforcement officials have said publicly that they recovered a phone as well as a water bottle and a protein bar wrapper from the scene. Fingerprints on the bottle of water and the wrapper match those from Mangione's arrest in Pennsylvania, Tisch said.

More: In Luigi Mangione's Maryland hometown, questions swirl about an unlikely murder suspect

People ‘experience denied claims as an act of violence’: AOC weighs in

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the leader of the progressive group of Democratic lawmakers known as "the Squad," weighed in on the outpouring of support for the suspected shooter of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“It’s important that people not pretend to act like they don't know where this is coming from,” said the congresswoman, also known as AOC, in a video posted to social media.

People regularly have their lives or that of a loved one upended by a healthcare diagnosis that insurance won’t cover, said Ocasio-Cortez.

The congresswoman said she was uninsured before coming into office in 2019 and still relied on free clinics for healthcare during her first campaign.

“All of that pain that people have experienced is being concentrated on this event,” she said. “This is not to say an act of violence is justified but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them.”

Can Luigi Mangione escape extradition? Experts say likely no

Legal experts told USA TODAY that it is unlikely Mangione will be able to stop authorities from extraditing him to New York.

David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said while Mangione has the right to a hearing to challenge the charges against him, it will only "delay" proceedings by several weeks. "It will not stop the inevitable," he said.

Harris pointed to comments by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Blare County District Attorney Peter Weeks, all of whom have said they are cooperating to get the suspect back to New York City.

Brian Zeiger, a criminal defense attorney in Pennsylvania, said interstate extraditions are fairly common and usually occur without complications. In 24 years practicing law in the state, Zeiger has never seen an accused suspect – especially in a high-profile murder case – fight extradition to another state and win.

Luigi Mangioni's movement come into focus

Police have a better idea of how the alleged gunman fled the scene of the shooting and ended up in Pennsylvania, though some questions remain.

Kenny, the NYPD's head detective, told NBC New York Mangione rode an e-bike into Central Park before taking a cab to Washington Heights. From there, he took the subway back down to Penn Station and traveled to Philadelphia, Kenny said.

It remains unclear how he traveled to Altoona, where he was spotted by a customer who recognized him from surveillance images released by the NYPD.

Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Luigi Mangione arrest in CEO shooting: NYC grand jury hears evidence