Luigi Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of health care CEO Brian Thompson last month, New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday.
Mangione has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, as well as two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged with murder as an act of “terrorism,” Bragg said.
In announcing the charges, Bragg called the shooting a “terrifying, well-planned and targeted murder.”
Mangione is scheduled to appear at a court hearing on December 19 on whether he will be extradited to New York on the charges, according to BBC media partner CBS News.
The extradition process will take place on the same day he will appear in preliminary proceedings on weapons charges in Pennsylvania.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a so-called “ghost gun” and a fake ID, police said, five days after he allegedly shot and killed healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4.
His lawyer, Thomas Dickey, has said he plans to fight extradition and maintains that he has seen no evidence linking Mangione’s gun to the crime.
New York prosecutors began sharing evidence in their case against Mangione with a grand jury last week.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg suggested Mangione could waive extradition, meaning his arrival in New York would be imminent, according to CBS News.
If extradited, the 26-year-old would likely be held at Riker’s Island or another New York prison.
The evidence against Mr. Mangione includes a positive match between his fingerprints and those discovered at the crime scene, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has said.
In addition to the ghost gun (a weapon assembled from untraceable parts) and a fake ID, police said they also found a passport and a handwritten document indicating “motivation and mindset” on Mangione during his arrest.
He was indicted in Pennsylvania for forgery, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, possession of instruments of crime and providing false identification to police.
While Mangione awaits his fate in the New York court system, he remains under maximum security at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
He has been denied bail.
