ALTOONA: Luigi Mangione, the suspect charged with murder in the shooting of a top UnitedHealth executive, briefly struggled with officers and angrily shouted while being escorted into a Pennsylvania courthouse on Tuesday, as a clearer picture of his motives began to emerge a day after his arrest ended a massive manhunt.
Mangione, 26, turned toward a group of reporters and yelled in part, "completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people !" before deputies pushed him away. It was not clear to what he was referring.
At the court hearing, his defence lawyer told a judge that Mangione would oppose extradition to New York, where he is charged with murder and other crimes. That decision could delay
the process by weeks but is unlikely to block his eventual transfer; for now, Mangione will remain in jail in Pennsylvania, where he faces gun and forgery charges.
His attorney, Tom Dickey, told a news conference that Mangione planned to plead not guilty to the charges.
Brian Thompson, the chief executive officer of UnitedHealth's insurance arm, one of the largest health insurers in the United States, was shot dead on Dec 4 outside a hotel in Manhattan in what police said was a targeted attack, sparking a manhunt that led to Mangione's arrest.
More clues about his possible motivation were coming to light on Tuesday.
When arrested, Mangione was in possession of a handwritten manifesto that offered insight into his mindset, according to police.
The 'New York Times' reported that an internal New York City Police report analysing the document concluded that Mangione viewed the killing as a justified response to what he believed to be corruption in the healthcare industry.
"These parasites simply had it coming," the manifesto said, according to the NYT.
Mangione suffered from chronic back pain that limited his daily life, according to friends, his social media postings and other news reports. His profile on X shows a background image of an X-ray with what appears to be screws and plates inserted in a lower back.
Mangione was spotted at a McDonald's on Monday by an employee who thought he looked like the gunman in surveillance images released by police.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate who was also the valedictorian of a private all-boys school in Maryland, had a loaded ghost gun — an untraceable firearm assembled from parts — and a silencer, officials said on Monday.
Both the weapon and his clothing closely resembled those used by the gunman.
Mangione's family released a statement saying they knew only what had been reported in the media.
"Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest," the family said on the X account of Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione.
"We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved."