NEW YORK: A “life-changing, life-altering” back injury may have helped drive the man charged with gunning down a top health insurance CEO in the middle of New York City to the killing, police said on Thursday (Dec 12).
Detectives have been focused on what may have motivated the data engineer, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Baltimore family, to allegedly shoot Thompson in cold blood.
Speculation had swirled about Mangione’s health, after a photo on what appeared to be one of his social media accounts featured an X-ray of a spine with a medical implement.
“It seems that he had an accident that caused him to go to the emergency room back in July of 2023, and that it was a life-changing injury,” New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York on Thursday.
“He posted X-rays of screws being inserted into his spine. So the injury that he suffered was, was a life-changing, life-altering injury, and that’s what may have put him on this path,” Kenny continued.
He also said that police had found “no indication that (Mangione) was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare” and suggested he may have targeted the company because it was the largest healthcare organisation in the United States.
Police have said that Mangione’s fingerprints matched those found near the crime scene, and that shell casings match the gun found on him when he was arrested.
But they have not yet been able to access what is believed to be his phone, nor have they spoken to his family, NBC reported.
