NYPD official indicates that Mangione's family did not send in any tips
New York police officials are speaking out about tips in regard to the Dec. 4 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and one of them indicated that the prime suspect's family did not send any in, according to interviews with Fox News and MSNBC.
Luigi Mangione is currently in custody in Pennsylvania as he awaits possible extradition back to New York, where he has been charged in connection to the 50-year-old CEO's murder. Altoona police in Pennsylvania detained the Maryland native on Monday after an employee at the McDonald's he was eating at inside called the authorities.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro praised the customer who alerted the McDonald's employee about Mangione that day, saying they "acted as a hero."
"A Pennsylvania resident saw something early this morning at McDonald's and said something to our local police," Shapiro said Monday during a joint press conference in Blair County.
While the McDonald's customer may have recognized Mangione as the suspected murderer seen in images released by the NYPD and FBI, the 26-year-old's own family apparently did not, according to Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Kenny appeared on Fox News and told "Your World" host Neil Cavuto that of more than 200 tips police received in the case, none had the name Mangione.
Updates: Luigi Mangione's lawyer responds to new evidence against CEO shooting suspect
'Thank God for that customer in McDonald’s'
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday and said that tips came in once they released the images of the suspected shooter.
Although Mangione is charged, Chell said NYPD is "still vetting these tips.”
After encouraging the viewers of the show to continue calling in and offering more tips, Chell said, "But thank God for that customer in McDonald’s.”
Why Mangione's family may not have recognized him in FBI, NYPD released images
It is unclear why none of Mangione's family connected him to the various surveillance images captured on the day of the shooting. One of his former high school classmates did explain his theory to "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday.
"The thing that I remember about Luigi, if anything, was his really distinct curly hair, and in all the security camera footage, all you saw was him with a hat on or a hood on," Freddie Leatherbury said on the TV show.
"That wasn't a connection that I was making. And, of course, Italians in New York are a dime a dozen. So just the jaw structure alone, the face, that wasn't a connection that I was really rushing to make. So I really just brushed it off when I saw it, to be honest."
Law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital on Monday that Mangione's distinctive eyebrows and the medical mask made him stand out to customers and locals at the Altoona McDonald's.
New York police are still trying to place Mangione at the scene of the shooting in Midtown Manhattan, but they announced on Wednesday that the 3D-printed gun they recovered from him in Altoona matched three shell casings found outside the Hilton Hotel where Thompson was killed. NYPD also matched Mangione's fingerprints to prints found on a water bottle and protein bar wrapper near the scene of the shooting.
What is Luigi Mangione's family saying?
Mangione's family shared a public statement about him hours after Altoona police arrested him at the McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Monday.
"Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione. We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved," the family said in a statement on social media. "We are devastated by this news."
Mangione's family issued the statement from the X account of first cousin Nino Mangione, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates and one of several prominent members of the Mangione family.
In a now-unavailable social media post, Luigi Mangione's sister, MariaSanta, a physician at the University of Texas Southwestern, wrote, “Praying for you."
Luigi Mangione's other sister, Luciana, shared a picture of her and her brother smiling on a beach in an Instagram post on Monday evening.
Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NYPD official indicates Luigi Mangione's family did not send in tips
