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Luigi Mangione was arrested in connection with the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder.
Luigi Mangione’s arrest marked the end of an intense five-day manhunt. (Photo Credits: AFP)
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old suspect, was arrested on Monday in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a customer recognised him and alerted a staff member who then contacted the police.
Court documents revealed that Mangione was seated at a table inside the restaurant wearing a blue medical mask and was using a laptop. His backpack was placed on the floor beside him. When officers arrived and asked him to remove his mask, they immediately identified him. They questioned Mangione about whether he had recently been in New York but he remained silent and started shaking, one of the responding officers said during a press conference.
However, what stands out as even more shocking is the wave of online backlash the McDonald’s outlet received from where Mangione was arrested. Shortly after his capture, the restaurant became the target of negative reviews which led Google to step in and remove the derogatory comments. This wave of negative reviews is known as “review bombing” where an establishment faces a flood of bad reviews linked to political opinions or events unrelated to their business.
In this instance, the McDonald’s location in Altoona received numerous one-star reviews following Mangione’s arrest. “This location has rats in the kitchen that will make you sick and your insurance isn’t going to cover it,” one review read as quoted by The Guardian.
“These reviews violate our policies and have been removed,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement as per the outlet. The policy specified that the reviews “should reflect a genuine experience at a place or business” and that “content that has been posted from multiple accounts to manipulate a place’s rating” will be removed.
Earlier, an unusual and controversial contest took place in New York where participants competed in a “shooter look-alike” event. The contest, held prior to Mangione’s arrest, sparked widespread outrage as many deemed it to be insensitive.
Thompson, 50, was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel early Wednesday morning, December 5, in what authorities described as a “brazen and targeted” attack. He was walking alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel where UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, was hosting its annual investor conference. Surveillance footage showed the gunman waiting for Thompson before carrying out the attack and fleeing on a bicycle. The suspect was later spotted boarding a bus as part of his escape plan.
Mangione’s arrest marked the end of an intense five-day manhunt.
