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What’s next for the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO | CNN

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What’s next for the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO | CNN



CNN
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The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in Manhattan remains in a Pennsylvania state prison, while a possible indictment looms in New York as a grand jury considers evidence on charges he faces there, including one count of murder.

Luigi Mangione, who faces a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison if convicted on the charge of second-degree murder, is set to appear in a Pennsylvania court for a preliminary hearing next week on state charges following his December 9 arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona.

Mangione, 26, has been fighting extradition to New York after being accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday it is possible the suspect could soon waive his right to fight being handed over to New York authorities.

“Indications are that the defendant may waive, but that waiver is not complete until a court proceeding, which my understanding from court officials in Pennsylvania cannot happen until Tuesday,” Bragg said. “So until that time, we’re going to continue to press forward on parallel paths and we’ll be ready whether he is going to waive extradition or whether he’s going to contest extradition.”

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Here are the latest developments in the case:

  • After a San Francisco Police Department officer recognized Mangione from a surveillance photo as the possible suspect on December 5, the day after the shooting, they shared the tip with the FBI.
  • Mangione has retained attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former Manhattan prosecutor, to represent him in New York.
  • A Center for Internet Security report released Saturday found “widespread support” of Thompson’s killing could lead to potential copycats of the shooting likely to feel “emboldened and encouraged.”
  • A defense fund set up on Mangione’s behalf raised more than $115,000 by Sunday, according to a campaign page on GiveSendGo. It is unclear whether his defense team will accept the funds.

Authorities tracked down Mangione in Altoona last week after being alerted he looked similar to the person who gunned down Thompson in front of a Midtown Manhattan hotel as the health care executive prepared to attend his company’s investors’ conference.

Mangione faces charges in both Pennsylvania and New York. He remains in custody in Pennsylvania Monday on charges related to a gun and fake ID police say they found at the time of his arrest.

In New York, prosecutors have charged him with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to online court documents.

Investigators in New York believe Mangione, a former high school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate born into a well-to-do family, appeared to be driven by anger against the health insurance industry and “corporate greed,” according to an NYPD intelligence report obtained by CNN.

Mangione is scheduled to appear at a hearing in Pennsylvania on December 30 in response to his petitions for writ of habeas corpus and imposition of bail, court documents from Thursday show. The habeas corpus petition is a key factor in whether Mangione can be extradited to New York.

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Thomas Dickey, Mangione’s attorney in Pennsylvania, denied his client’s involvement in Thompson’s killing and said he anticipates a not guilty plea from Mangione to the charges he faces in New York.

Dickey also said Mangione, who was denied bail last Tuesday at an extradition hearing, plans to plead not guilty to the charges in Pennsylvania.

Following Bragg’s comments on Mangione possibly backing down from the extradition fight, CNN has sought comment from Dickey regarding whether he and his client have changed their position on extradition.

New York authorities have executed as many as three search warrants as part of their investigation, including at least two warrants for a backpack found in Central Park and a burner phone discovered along Mangione’s believed getaway route away from the crime scene, sources told CNN.

The mounting evidence against the suspect accused of killing Thompson, authorities say, includes a 3D-printed gun they allege Mangione had when he was arrested, which matches three shell casings found at the crime scene.

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Mangione’s fingerprints match those found on items near the scene, New York City’s police commissioner has said, and investigators discovered a three-page handwritten “claim of responsibility” and writings in a spiral notebook pointing to the suspect’s involvement, a law enforcement source briefed on the matter told CNN.

Three 9 mm shell casings from the crime scene had the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” written on them, according to NYPD’s Chief Detective Joseph Kenny. The words are similar to a title of a 2010 book critiquing the insurance industry.

Dickey has said he wants to see the ballistics and fingerprint evidence for himself.

“Those two sciences, in and of themselves, have come under some criticism in the past, relative to their credibility, their truthfulness, their accuracy, however you want to do it,” Dickey said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” on Wednesday.

The office of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is convening business leaders and law enforcement to discuss safety this week.

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Kathryn Garcia, Hochul’s director of operations and infrastructure, will hold a call with several business leaders and law enforcement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the governor’s office told CNN.

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization which represents New York City’s global business leaders and major employers, told CNN the call will include top State Police officials and counterterrorism law enforcement.

A source familiar with the planning told CNN the state is also considering setting up a hotline for CEOs so they can call to report security concerns or threats.

The hope is the call will “provide a forum for questions and sharing of best practices regarding threats to business leaders around the city,” Wylde said.

Approximately 200 people, mostly security people as well as some CEOs are expected to join, according to Wylde.

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The call comes as C-suite leaders across the country are left shaken in the wake of Thompson’s killing and reassessing preparedness for potential threats.

The NYPD, in an intelligence report obtained by CNN last week, said it believed Thompson’s killing was a “symbolic takedown” and could inspire others to act violently toward business leaders.

CNN’s Jason Hanna, Karina Tsui, Steve Almasy, Andy Rose, Brynn Gingras, Michelle Watson, Bonney Kapp, Dakin Andone, Emma Tucker, Meg Tirrell and Jason Carroll contributed to this report.

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Waymo called the cops on teen riders, raising privacy concerns

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Waymo called the cops on teen riders, raising privacy concerns

A Waymo robotaxi drives in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood this week.

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Police in San Mateo, Calif., posted Monday on social media that they had apprehended a pair of teenagers from a Waymo driverless robotaxi after the company alerted authorities to suspected criminal activity. It’s the latest incident involving video surveillance of passengers and others by autonomous vehicles — raising questions about the limits of privacy in such vehicles.

The Facebook post by the San Mateo County Police said: “Parents do you know where your teens are? @waymo does!”

The 15-year-olds were allegedly drinking alcohol and shooting toy guns from the car, according to the police. They said Waymo’s systems detected behavior that then triggered a safety response, after which the company disabled the vehicle and contacted police.

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Waymo’s cars, equipped with an array of cameras, microphones and other sensors to monitor passengers and other nearby vehicles, are becoming more common in cities across the United States. Experts say the detention of the two teens in San Mateo highlights a potential — but not inevitable — trade-off between privacy and convenience. It also questions the extent to which companies similar to Waymo are required to hand over private data, including audio and video of passengers, in situations where a crime is suspected.

NPR reached out to Waymo, which is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, for comment on the details of the San Mateo incident and how the company responded, but did not hear back. But on its website, the company says that as many as 29 cameras in its autonomous cars provide an all-around view and “are designed with high dynamic range and thermal stability, to see in both daylight and low-light conditions, and tackle more complex environments.”

“There already exist laws that govern duty to report or even duty to protect” for carriers such as Waymo, according to Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “The privacy problems arise when and if driverless carrier companies used such laws or ethical obligations as a pretext for blanket, indiscriminate accumulation of identifiable data for unspecified future purposes.”

That includes not just monitoring people inside the cars, but outside too. Take, for example, a hit-and-run investigation last year in Los Angeles. Media reported that the police inquiry was aided by video captured by a Waymo taxi that had a clear view of the crime. Critics suggested at the time that authorities were using the company’s vehicles as a mobile surveillance platform. And during 2025 protests in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns, demonstrators vandalized Waymos, apparently angry that video recorded by the vehicles could be used by police, although there is no evidence that happened.

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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