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The suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson comes from a prominent Maryland family whose matriarch was a strong supporter of Jesuit education.

Luigi Mangione was arrested on December 9 at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the murder of Thompson, who was shot on December 4 as he walked to a Hilton hotel in New York’s Midtown Manhattan neighborhood for the annual his company’s investor conference. .

The killing, captured on video camera, sparked a multi-state manhunt, with evidence pointing to a methodically planned killing. A customer at the Altoona restaurant alerted staff to Mangione and police were called. The suspect was found with a fake ID and a gun similar to the weapon believed to have been used in Thompson’s murder.

The New York Times reported that police also found a three-page manifesto that Mangione had written, in which he appeared to have admitted to the murder while acting alone. The handwritten document refers to UnitedHealthcare while deploring companies that “continue to abuse our country for massive profits because the American public has let them get away with it.”

The Times also noted that people who knew Mangione said he had spinal problems and that he had undergone significant back surgery in 2023 that appears to have been a spinal fusion with screws and rods.

Mangione, 26, was initially charged in Pennsylvania with providing false identification to police, possession of an unlicensed firearm and forgery.

The family of Mangione — a University of Pennsylvania graduate — said in a Dec. 9 statement on social media by the suspect’s cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione, that they are “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”

“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports about Luigi Mangione,” the family said, explaining that they only know what they have read in news reports.

“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for everyone involved,” the family’s statement said. “We are devastated by this news.”

Luigi Mangione’s late grandmother, Mary Mangione, was remembered by Loyola University Maryland following her death in March 2023, with the university describing her in a tribute as someone who “believed passionately in the value of Jesuit Catholic education.”

In 2010, the late Mangione – a graduate of Mount St. Agnes College, which later merged with Loyola – had been awarded the school’s presidential medal. She and her husband, Nicholas Mangione, were philanthropists and longtime benefactors of Loyola, and helped the school acquire a permanent display of St. John’s Bible in Loyola’s Notre Dame Library.

“Mary Mangione believed passionately in the value of Jesuit Catholic education. Over the years, she and her husband have given generously to enhance the education and experience we provide for our students,” Loyola President Terrence M. Sawyer said in the university’s tribute to her on March 28, 2023. “She will will be missed and long remembered for the ways in which she ensured that our students would continue to grow in mind, body and spirit for generations to come.”

Late December 9, New York prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Luigi Mangione. It is expected that he will be extradited to the state.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News.