ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) 鈥� The gun found on the suspect in the killing of United Healthcare鈥檚 CEO matched shell casings found at the site of the shooting, New York City鈥檚 police commissioner said Wednesday.
Suspect 鈥檚 fingerprints also matched a water bottle and a snack bar wrapper that police found near the scene in midtown Manhattan, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at an unrelated news conference. Police had said earlier that they believed the gunman bought the items at a nearby coffee shop while awaiting his target.
Mangione, 26, was in last week's shooting of , who led the United States鈥� largest medical insurance company.
Authorities have said that writings found in Mangione's possession hinted at a hatred of corporate greed.
They鈥檝e recovered a spiral notebook that Mangione kept, along with a three-page, handwritten letter found when he was arrested Monday in Pennsylvania, a law enforcement official said Wednesday. Police have not disclosed what was in the notebook.
The letter teased the possibility that clues to the attack 鈥� 鈥渟ome straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it鈥� 鈥� could be found in the notebook, the law enforcement official said. The official wasn鈥檛 authorized to disclose information about the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The New York Police Department鈥檚 top detective, Joseph Kenny, on Tuesday that the motive might have been related to an accident that sent Mangione to an emergency room on July 4, 2023.
A law enforcement bulletin obtained by the AP earlier this week said the letter disdained corporate greed and what Mangione called 鈥減arasitic鈥� health insurance companies. The prep school and Ivy League graduate wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world and that major corporations' profits continue to rise while life expectancy doesn't, according to the bulletin.
In his first public words since his arrest, about an 鈥渋nsult to the intelligence of the American people鈥� on his way into court Tuesday. Mangione remained jailed without bail Wednesday in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with gun and forgery offenses.
Manhattan prosecutors were working to bring him to New York. At a brief hearing Tuesday in Pennsylvania, defense lawyer Thomas Dickey said Mangione will not waive extradition and instead wants a hearing on the issue.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 rush to judgment in this case or any case,鈥� Dickey said afterward. 鈥淗e鈥檚 presumed innocent. Let鈥檚 not forget that.鈥�
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City, after a McDonald鈥檚 customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said.
New York police officials have said Mangione was carrying like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the suspected shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs.
Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4 as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. From surveillance video, New York investigators determined the shooter quickly fled the city, likely by bus.
His movements afterward are unclear, but authorities believe he took steps to stay off the radar. Prosecutors said at his Pennsylvania hearing this week that when arrested, he had bags for his cellphone and laptop that prevent such devices from transmitting signals that authorities can use to track them.
Mangione, a grandson of a well-known Maryland real estate developer and philanthropist, had a graduate degree in computer science and worked for a time at a car-buying website. During the first half of 2022, he bunked at a 鈥渃o-living鈥� space in Hawaii, where those who knew him said he suffered from severe and sometimes debilitating back pain.
His relatives have said in a statement that they are was 鈥渟hocked and devastated" at his arrest.
___
Sisak reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed.
Michael R. Sisak And Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press
