BREAKING: Pam Bondi to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione if convicted

On Tuesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi released a statement, saying that the US Department of Justice will seek the death penalty for the UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.

“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America. After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again,” Bondi said in a press release.

Mangione has been charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The CEO was shot in the early morning on December 4 last year during the company’s annual shareholder conference in Manhattan. Video of the shooting showed the suspect go up behind Thompson and shoot him in the back at point-blank range outside the hotel where the conference was taking place.

Bullet casing at the scene had the words “deny,” “delay,” and “depose,” three words connected to strategies healthcare companies can use to deny claims. The DOJ wrote in the press release that the shooting “was an act of political violence” and that “Mangione’s actions involved substantial planning and premeditation and because the murder took place in public with bystanders nearby, may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons."

Mangione was later arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was found at a McDonalds. Looking through his backpack, officers found an alleged manifesto railing against the healthcare industry and other writings. Lawyers representing Mangione have claimed the writings were not a manifesto.

Mangione has entered a plea of not guilty in the murder case at the state level, but has yet to enter a plea for the federal charges placed against him.