{"id":326892,"date":"2025-12-02T23:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326892\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T23:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:04:07","slug":"police-were-skeptical-about-tip-that-led-to-arrest-of-unitedhealthcare-ceo-shooting-suspect-brian-thompson-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326892\/","title":{"rendered":"Police were skeptical about tip that led to arrest of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect | Brian Thompson shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police involved with Luigi Mangione\u2019s<\/a> arrest were so skeptical that the tip on his whereabouts was true that they joked about a reward sandwich in text messages, Manhattan state court proceedings revealed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018if you get the New York<\/a> City shooter, I\u2019ll buy you a hoagie from a local restaurant,\u2019\u201d testified Joseph Detwiler, an Altoona, Pennsylvania police officer, of texts exchanged with a supervisor. \u201cI said, \u2018Consider it done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In less than an hour, Detwiler learned that this seemingly spurious tip was true.<\/p>\n

Mangione was captured in Pennsylvania at a McDonald\u2019s on 9 December 2024 in connection with the murder of Brian Thompson<\/a>, the United HealthCare CEO. Thompson\u2019s death on a New York City street on 4 December 2024 both spurred a sprawling manhunt for his killer and stoked public outrage over the practices of the US\u2019s for-profit health insurance industry.<\/p>\n

Following the dispatch\u2019s orders, Detwiler and another officer went to the McDonald\u2019s. \u201cI saw the male sitting at the table there, next to the bathrooms,\u201d Detwiler said. The man had on a large coat, brown beanie and blue medical mask, just as the tipster had said. \u201cI walked by. I wanted to see what he did when he saw us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detwiler asked the man his name and explained that \u201csomeone called, they thought you were suspicious\u201d. He asked for identification, which the man provided. This ID would prove to be fake.<\/p>\n

Detwiler also asked the man to pull down his mask. \u201cI knew it was him immediately,\u201d Detwiler said.<\/p>\n

Mangione was led into court just after 9.50am, wearing a dark jacket. His hand restraints were removed before he sat at the defense table. He faces Manhattan federal court charges in addition to his state case and has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.<\/p>\n

Detwiler\u2019s testimony came on day two of a potentially weeklong proceeding about whether evidence was gathered illegally during Mangione\u2019s encounter with police at this fast-food eatery. Mangione\u2019s lawyers have repeatedly pushed for the exclusion of evidence obtained during his arrest, alleging that he was not immediately informed of his constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

Detwiler and another officer were sent to a local McDonald\u2019s after the restaurant\u2019s manager called 911, saying customers thought they had spotted the shooter. He was the first police officer to question Mangione.<\/p>\n

The audio recording chronicling Detwiler\u2019s dispatch was played in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a male in the [McDonald\u2019s] that looks like the NYC shooter,\u201d police dispatch told Detwiler of the reported sighting.<\/p>\n

Detwiler responded: \u201c10-4. We\u2019ll be on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Joel Seidemann asked Detwiler about his tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was being semi-sarcastic when I said it,\u201d Detwiler explained. \u201cI did not think it was going to be the person that they thought it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Seidemann\u2019s questioning progressed, Detwiler gave more details about Mangione\u2019s arrest. These queries were coupled with body-worn camera footage displayed in court.<\/p>\n

Detwiler \u201cstayed calm\u201d after recognizing Mangione and called his supervisor. \u201cYes, he\u2019s here. It\u2019s him,\u201d Detwiler remembered saying.<\/p>\n

On the call, Detwiler insisted that he wasn\u2019t kidding. \u201cHe was surprised, because he was the one who sent me the text message when we got the call.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout the free hoagie?\u201d Seidemann asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detwiler tried act as normally as possible, telling Mangione that police were there over complaints that he had been lingering too long. Body-camera footage showed Mangione eating a hash-brown patty and, shortly thereafter, another item.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him if it was a steak sandwich,\u201d Detwiler said. Mangione responded with an mm-hmm. \u201cI said it was my favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was the point out of that?\u201d Seidemann said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trying to keep things calm and normal, like I said before.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much of a role Mangione\u2019s mask played in attracting attention remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Seidemann asked Detwiler about mask culture in Altoona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t wear masks,\u201d Detwiler said. \u201cWe have antibodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

And since \u201cno one wears masks\u201d there, Detwiler knew the man they would later identify as Mangione was the man who had prompted suspicion.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a mask on,\u201d Detwiler said. \u201cSo he had to be the person we were called there for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen Agnifilo, one of Mangione\u2019s attorneys, examined Detwiler after the prosecution wrapped its inquiry. She pressed on details about his identification of Mangione to bolster the defense position that circumstances surrounding the interdiction were legally problematic.<\/p>\n

Agnifilo asked about the dispatch call, which said that there was a \u201csuspicious male that resembled the NYC shooter\u201d at McDonald\u2019s. The dispatch call was \u201clow-priority\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t sound serious on the radio, no,\u201d Detwiler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t use lights and sirens?\u201d Agnifilo said.<\/p>\n

Detwiler said they did not.<\/p>\n

Agnifilo noted that Detwiler asked the man he\u2019d later identify as Mangione to lower his mask, and he did so right away. She suggested through questioning that the timing seemed off for such a swift identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s at that moment, two seconds into seeing him, you know: he\u2019s the New York City shooter?\u201d<\/p>\n

Detwiler again insisted that he knew. \u201cNo doubt in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agnifilo also sought to suggest that Mangione was held without being apprised of his rights. She asked Detwiler, whose pre-Altoona police r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes the Air Force and private security in Iraq, about he and his partner\u2019s physical position at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Mangione was in the corner booth, back to the wall, and Agnifilo pressed Detwiler to explain whether he and his partner were standing in a way to prevent him from leaving. Detwiler said he and his partner needed room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to stand next to each other and hold each other\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police involved with Luigi Mangione\u2019s arrest were so skeptical that the tip on his whereabouts was true that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-326892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}