Police video shows Luigi Mangione said he didn't want to talk. They kept
asking questions
[December 05, 2025]
By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Minutes after police approached Luigi Mangione in a
Pennsylvania McDonald's, he told an officer he didn't want to talk,
according to video and testimony at a court hearing Thursday for the man
charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Although Mangione signaled he wasn't interested in speaking, police
continued asking questions, and he continued answering, video showed.
Nearly 20 minutes passed before police informed him of his right to
remain silent.
The exchanges have been scrutinized this week at a lengthy New York
court hearing as Mangione’s lawyers try to keep some key evidence from
being presented at his murder trial, including his statements to police
and a gun and diary officers say they found in his backpack when he was
arrested Dec. 9, 2024, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Mangione’s lawyers argue that his statements aren't fair game for trial
because officers asked questions before reading his rights. The defense
says the contents of his backpack should be excluded because police
didn’t get a warrant before searching it.
The standards surrounding police questioning and searches are
complicated and often argued over once cases get to court. However the
issues are ultimately resolved in Mangione's case, the hearing is giving
the public an extensive preview of some testimony, video, 911 audio and
other records.
Hearing coincides with anniversary
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The
hearing, which started Monday and could extend to next week, applies
only to the state case.
As Mangione sat in a Manhattan court on Thursday's anniversary of the
killing, UnitedHealthcare lowered the flags at its campuses in
Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, Minnesota, in Thompson’s memory. Employees
were encouraged to engage in volunteering.
The 27-year-old Mangione, meanwhile, appeared to follow the court
proceedings intently, at times leaning over the defense table to
scrutinize papers or take notes. He briefly looked down as Altoona
Police Officer Tyler Frye was asked about a strip-search of Mangione
after his arrest. Under the department’s policy, that search wasn’t
recorded.
‘I don’t know what you guys are up to'
Five days after Thompson was gunned down, Altoona police were tipped
that someone at the McDonald’s resembled the much-publicized suspect in
the killing. But Frye and Officer Joseph Detwiler initially approached
Mangione with a low-key tone, saying only that someone had said he
looked “suspicious.” Asked for his ID, he gave a phony New Jersey
driver’s license with a fake name, according to prosecutors.
Moments later, after frisking Mangione, Detwiler stepped away to
communicate with dispatchers about the license, leaving the rookie Frye
by Mangione's table. Frye asked him, “What's going on?” and what had
brought him to Altoona.
[to top of second column]
|
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence
hearing, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in New York. (Angela Weiss/Pool
Photo via AP)
“I don’t know what you guys are up to. I'm just going to wait,”
Mangione answered, and he inquired what was afoot.
After repeating the claim that someone was suspicious of Mangione,
Frye asked: “You don’t want to talk to me or anything?”
Mangione indicated that he didn't, shaking his head. But he
continued to answer other questions asked by the officers, and also
posed a few of his own.
“Can I ask why there’s so many cops here?" he asked shortly before
being informed he was being arrested on a forgery charge related to
his false ID. Roughly a dozen officers had converged on the
restaurant, and Mangione had been told he was being investigated and
had been handcuffed and read his rights.
When he was arrested, an officer asked whether there was anything in
the backpack that police needed to know about.
“I’m going to remain silent,” Mangione replied.
Police went on to search the bag. They also searched Mangione's
pockets, finding objects including a pocket knife — which he alerted
them to — and what appeared to be a neatly written to-do list.
Entries for the previous day ranged from “digital cam” to “hot meal
and water bottles” to “trash bag(s).”
Among the items for the day of his arrest: “survival kit.”
What's at stake?
The evidence is key to prosecutors' case. They have said the 9 mm
handgun found in the backpack matches the firearm used in the
killing, that writings in the notebook laid out Mangione's disdain
for health insurers and ideas about killing a CEO at an investor
conference, and that he gave police the same fake name that the
alleged gunman used at a New York hostel days before the shooting.
Thompson, 50, was shot from behind as he walked to an investor
conference. He became UnitedHealthcare's CEO in 2021 and had worked
within parent UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years.
Manhattan prosecutors haven't yet detailed their arguments for
allowing the disputed evidence. Federal prosecutors have maintained
that the backpack search was justified to ensure there was nothing
dangerous inside, and that Mangione's statements to officers were
voluntary and made before he was under arrest.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
