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MANHATTAN (CN) — The untraceable handgun found on suspected shooter Luigi Mangione matches three bullet shell casings found near the scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed last week, NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch announced at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, as Mangione challenges extradition to New York on murder charges.
The black pistol, which police believe may have been 3D printed, has been transferred from Pennsylvania law enforcement to the New York Police Department, Tisch said.
“We were able to match that gun to the three shell casings that we found in Midtown at the scene of the homicide,” she said.
Bullet casings found near the scene reportedly had the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on the outside shell of the ammunition, echoing a phrase used by insurance industry detractors.
Tisch — appointed last month as commissioner of the largest police department in the United States — added that Mangione’s fingerprints also matched a water bottle and KIND brand protein bar wrapper found near the crime scene.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny previously said Mangione was caught in possession of a 9mm ghost gun with no serial number, which officials believe may have been 3D printed, along with a silencer sound suppression extension.
Police have said they believe the gunman bought those items at a nearby Starbucks coffee shop while waiting for Thompson to arrive at the midtown Manhattan hotel where his company was holding its annual investor conference.
Surveillance images circulated by the police showed the masked suspect at the Starbucks counter about a half hour before shooting Thompson in the back and chest.
Mangione, 26, is being detained without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at a McDonald’s on Monday after a six-day manhunt following the point-blank execution of Thompson, the CEO of the insurer division of the largest private health insurance corporation in America.
The NYPD said the suspect wore a hooded jacket, black face mask and large gray backpack, and fled through midtown on foot before riding an electric bike into Central Park a few blocks away. From Central Park, he then took a New York City taxi uptown to the George Washington Bridge Bus terminal at 179th Street.
He was recognized by a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, nearly 300 miles away from New York City, as a person of interest in the nationally reported brazen killing. The Ivy League tech graduate from a prominent Maryland family was taken into custody on separate firearms charges.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office issued a warrant for Mangione’s arrest late Monday evening and charged him on five criminal counts: murder in the second degree, three weapons counts and criminal forgery.
Additional charging documents in the New York case will remain sealed until Mangione is formally arraigned in New York state criminal court.
During an extradition hearing on Tuesday at the Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, Mangione’s lawyer said he wouldn’t consent to waive his right to an extradition hearing before a state court judge.
The extradition process to transfer a defendant to another jurisdiction — requiring coordination between the governors of New York and Pennsylvania — can take up to 30 to 40 days, a NYPD spokesperson said.
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