An officer who escorted Luigi Mangione to an arraignment hearing after his December 2024 arrest revealed in court Tuesday what the accused murderer said while walking past spectators and reporters on his way out of the Pennsylvania courthouse.
“All of these people are here for a mass murderer? Wild,” Mangione allegedly said, according to Altoona Police Officer Stephen Fox.
Tuesday marked a year since Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, bringing an end to a five-day manhunt for the alleged murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. The 27-year-old was arraigned on the same day at the Blair County Courthouse.
He faces New York state charges, including one count of second-degree murder, seven counts of various weapons charges, and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. Mangione was also charged with two federal counts of stalking, one count of murder through the use of a firearm, and one count of a firearms offense.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to nine state counts and four federal charges filed separately. The federal charges come with the possibility of the death penalty.
Fox’s insight into Mangione on the day of his arraignment revealed new details in a multi-day hearing related to his state of New York charges. The hearing in Manhattan criminal court is focused on Mangione’s lawyers’ bid to exclude evidence from his state murder trial. The proceedings could last at least a week.
On Tuesday, Mangione entered the courtroom in a navy blue suit and a light pink and white checked dress shirt.
Before the hearing began, Mangione chatted with one of his attorneys, then opened a folder and pulled a paper from it, which he read intently.
Fox, who responded to the McDonald’s a year ago following a call about a suspicious person, took the stand on Tuesday as the ninth witness for the prosecution.
He testified he was with Mangione at the Pennsylvania courthouse when he was arraigned. As he was escorting him out, Fox said Mangione remarked on the people who had shown up. Fox apologized to a shackled Mangione for walking too fast when he stumbled as the officers were handing him over to state police.
“It’s ok, I’m going to have to get used to it,” Mangione said, according to Fox.
Fox said before encountering Mangione at the McDonald’s, he had heard about the Dec. 4, 2024, shooting on Fox News. He called the incident a “violent act of cowardice that targeted an unarmed human being.”
Body-worn camera video of Mangione being detained in Pennsylvania was also played in court on Tuesday. Mangione took notes on a yellow legal pad and sifted through papers at the defense table as it played.
On the stand, Fox said that he helped search the backpack Mangione had with him after he was arrested. He told the court that he said, “It’s f—ing him, 100%” as his colleague found a magazine with bullets inside the backpack.
On Monday in court, pictures of the items recovered from Mangione’s backpack last year included a loaded handgun, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear, a notebook, a cellphone, a passport, a Maryland identification card, and various bank and credit cards.
A to-do list was also found with notes scribbled on it like “buy black sneakers (white stripe too distinctive),” “Change hat, shoes, pluck eyebrows,” “keep momentum, FBI slower,” and “check reports for current situation.”