Dramatic body camera footage captured the moment Pennsylvania cops cornered alleged assassin Luigi Mangione and asked his name after a ‘suspicious’ man was reported in a McDonald’s.
The 27-year-old alleged shooter had been on the run for five days following the point-blank murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson when police in Altoona descended on a local McDonald’s just before 9.30am on December 9, 2024.
‘Hey, sir,’ Officer Joseph Detwiler addresses the Ivy League graduate in the back of the restaurant, where Mangione could be seen sitting at a table.
The shooting suspect cordially replied, ‘How you doing?’
At that point, Detwiler could be heard asking Mangione to pull down his face mask – and Mangione quickly obliged.
But when he is then asked for his name, the footage shows Mangione claims he is Mark Rosario.
‘Someone called, they thought you were suspicious,’ Detwiler then tells Mangione, who proceeds to look down and apologize.
‘Oh, I’m sorry, um,’ the suspect could be heard stuttering, before Detwiler’s partner, Tyler Frye – whose body camera recorded the entire confrontation – asked him for his ID.
At that point, Mangione could be seen handing over a New Jersey ID bearing the name Mark Rosario, which authorities have claimed was fake. The same ID was allegedly used to check into a hostel in New York City days before Thompson was shot dead.
A preliminary hearing to determine whether key evidence could be heard at Luigi Mangione’s New York state trial continued for a fifth day on Tuesday
The court was shown body camera footage of Altoona Police Officer Joseph Detwiler and his partner, Tyler Frye, confronting Mangione at a McDonald’s on December 9, 2024
Mangione is seen in the body camera footage handing over an ID, which authorities have said was fake
As Frye then walked away to relay the information from the ID to the police department, Detwiler could be heard in the background asking Mangione if he had recently traveled to New York.
Later on in the footage, another cop could be heard warning Mangione about using a false identification.
‘You’re under official police investigation,’ a cop could be heard telling the one-time prep school valedictorian as he sits in a chair, staring down at the floor, according to the New York Post.
‘If you give us a false name again, you will be arrested for false identification.’
Eventually, authorities said, Mangione provided Lieutenant Tom Hannelly with his actual name and birthdate, and the suspect was taken into custody.
His defense team is now trying to bar evidence obtained from his arrest that day from being heard at his upcoming trial, claiming that officers started asking their client questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.
As the preliminary hearing continued for a fifth day on Tuesday, the court was shown body camera footage of Mangione’s interaction with the Altoona police.
Mangione had been on the run for five days following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson when he was arrested at the McDonald’s
Mangione is facing murder charges for the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, one year ago
His arrest came just minutes after an unidentified manager called 911 to report that some of the other customers recognized Mangione’s eyebrows as those of the suspected killer wanted in New York City.
‘It’s not really an emergency, but I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of, that he looks like the CEO shooter from New York,’ the manager could be heard telling dispatchers in audio played at the Manhattan Supreme Court last week.
She went on to say that an older female customer was ‘really upset’ and ‘frantic’ after seeing Mangione eating breakfast in the rear of the McDonald’s, and noted that he was trying to be ‘non-discreet,’ ABC News reports.
‘I can’t approach him,’ the female manager told a dispatcher at one point int he phone call, to which the dispatcher responded: ‘He shot the CEO, I got you.’
At that point, the manager tried to identify Mangione by his size – ‘mid-height’ and ‘mid-weight,’ but seemed to struggle to list any identifiable characteristics beyond his clothing – a black sweater jacket with a medical mask and a tan beanie pulled down.
‘The only thing you can see is his eyebrows,’ the manager then revealed.
A 911 call played in court revealed that customers at the McDonald’s recognized the suspect from images the NYPD released showing his bushy eyebrows
Officer Detwiler testified on Tuesday that he knew ‘immediately’ that he was confronting the wanted suspect
But once the officers arrived at the scene, Detwiler said he knew ‘immediately’ that he was confronting the wanted suspect.
He testified in court on Tuesday that he and Frye waited with Mangione at the McDonald’s until additional officers arrived.
‘He’s here, Tom. It’s him. I’m not kidding,’ the cop then told his boss, Hannelly, over the phone.
When other officers then arrived at the scene and read Mangione his Miranda rights, one cop could be heard asking the suspect whether there was anything he needed to tell them about the contents of his backpack – at which point, Mangione said he was invoking his right to remain silent.
Officers allegedly later recovered Mangione’s laptop, a gun, and a handmade silencer in the backpack.
Court documents claim that police found more than $7,000 in US dollars and $1,620 in foreign currency in Mangione’s backpack during his arrest.
Police also allegedly recovered 11 handwritten notes, a US passport, a license, a pocket knife, multiple USBs, and a Greyhound ticket from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
Officers allegedly found a handgun that matched the firearm description of the weapon used to murder Thompson inside Mangione’s backpack
Prosecutors also seized a handwritten diary from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania that his attorneys are now trying to hide from jurors
Luigi’s defense now argues that officers asked Mangione questions before informing him of his right to remain silent in a bid to prevent the materials from being introduced into evidence.
But in court on Monday, police veteran officer Christy Wasser, who arrested Mangione at a McDonald’s in Altoona last year, defended the recovery of the evidence in court on Monday.
Wasser testified that police protocols require officers to search a suspect’s property upon arrest.
She was even heard in the body camera footage expressing concern that Mangione’s backpack had a bomb.
Wasser later, though, admitted that the responding officers did not clear the restaurant.
If Judge Gregory Carro rules in favor of Mangione, the prosecution would no longer be able to present any of the evidence recovered from the backpack – including the handgun, which allegedly matches the description of the firearm used in Thompson’s murder.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The current hearings pertain to the state charges against him, although his attorneys are also seeking to exclude the evidence in the federal case.
A trial is not expected to begin until at least spring of next year.
