The man accused of orchestrating the ambush shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was found five days after the incident, presenting police with a fake driver’s license and claiming to be homeless. This revelation came during the third day of a suppression hearing on Thursday.
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in question, is represented by a defense team keen on having critical evidence dismissed before the trial begins.
Testimonies revealed that although Mangione initially appeared anxious when confronted by law enforcement, his demeanor shifted to a more brazen tone as more than a dozen officers surrounded him. According to bodycam footage shown in court, but not yet released to the public, Mangione sarcastically remarked, “Are you guys calling a couple more cars?”
The police had been alerted to Mangione’s presence by a McDonald’s manager who recognized him as resembling the suspect identified by the NYPD in connection with Thompson’s murder.
Officer Tyler Frye from the Altoona Police testified that Mangione insisted he was homeless and denied being in New York recently.
In court, Luigi Mangione was flanked by his attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, as they attended the evidence hearing on Thursday, December 4, 2025, in New York. (Photo credit: Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)
Frye and Officer Joseph Detwiler were the first to arrive at the fast-food joint. Prosecutors have played bodycam and surveillance videos showing multiple angles of the encounter throughout the week.
When they approached Mangione, Detwiler asked him to pull his mask down. The officer testified Tuesday that as soon as Mangione did so, he recognized him from Fox News coverage of the assassination case. Mangione allegedly gave them a forged New Jersey driver’s license with the name “Mark Rosario.” Police later found his real license in his own name and issued in his home state of Maryland.
Luigi Mangione allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group via AP)
“Visiting family down here?” Detwiler asked on bodycam video.
“No,” Mangione said. “I’m homeless.”
“Been to New York recently?” Detwiler followed up.
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in New York. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)
Mangione said no and shook his head.
Like Detwiler earlier this week, Frye testified that he recognized Mangione as the person depicted in wanted posters as a person of interest in the New York City assassination.
“I recognized the person in the media, specifically Fox News,” he said.
With Frye on the stand, lawyers on both sides replayed bodycam video of the arrest.
In one snippet, after more police had arrived and an officer asked Mangione if he walked to or drove to the McDonald’s, the suspected assassin quipped, “Are you guys calling a couple more cars?”
Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
Mangione is accused of following Thompson to Manhattan and hiding out on a midtown street before shooting him in the back outside a Hilton hotel that was supposed to host UnitedHealthcare investors for a conference Dec. 4, 2024. He allegedly used the “Mark Rosario” ID to check into a Manhattan hostel before the murder.
Exactly a year later, Mangione was in court, laughing with his attorneys before the hearing kicked off. Except for a break Wednesday, his legal team has been attempting to show that his Fourth Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights were violated by police and jail guards in Pennsylvania.
A sketch of Luigi Mangione in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Jane Rosenberg)
Prosecutors denied those claims, and legal experts tell Fox News Digital that while Mangione’s lawyers have raised valid issues, they face an uphill battle convincing the court to suppress the evidence.
That evidence includes the suspected murder weapon, recovered from Mangione’s backpack, as well as journals he kept, in which he allegedly railed against the health insurance industry and outlined some of the reasoning behind the alleged plot to kill Thompson.
