Investigators were interrogating Luigi Mangione in connection with last week’s brazen murder, which triggered a nationwide manhunt and global headlines.
Mangione was being held by officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being found with what police called a “ghost gun” capable of firing 9mm rounds and equipped with a suppressor that could have been made on a 3D printer.
The man was identified in the fast-food restaurant in Altoona town some 500km west of New York, New York police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
He had fake IDs, like those used by the killer, including one used to check in to a Manhattan hostel ahead of the attack, and a document that spoke to Mangione’s “motivation and mindset”, she said.
Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, studied at the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania, and had been living in Hawaii ahead of the killing.
“He matches the description of the identification we’ve been looking for. He’s also in possession of several items that we believe will connect him to this incident,” New York mayor Eric Adams said.
Police told reporters that Mangione possessed material that suggested he had “ill-will towards corporate America.”
Mangione’s LinkedIn profile showed he worked as a data engineer at TrueCar, a California-based online auto marketplace that said he left their employment in 2023.
He was due to be arraigned on gun charges in Pennsylvania at 6pm on Monday, US media reported.
Fled by bike
In last Wednesday’s shooting, the gunman walked up behind Brian Thompson, a senior executive at UnitedHealthcare – one of the country’s largest medical insurers – and shot him dead in front of bystanders.
The attack was captured by a surveillance camera and the footage seen by millions around the world as interest in the manhunt and mystery over the killer’s motives built to a frenzy.
Thompson, 50, was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.
Detectives said the suspect fled the crime scene on foot before riding a bike to Central Park and later boarding a bus from a terminal in the north of the city connecting New York to surrounding states and beyond.
Police have not confirmed media reports that the words “delay” and “deny” – language often used by insurance companies to reject claims – were written on shell casings found at the scene.
Video footage shows Thompson on the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown when a man in a hooded top, his lower face covered, approaches from behind and fires several shots at the father-of-two, who crumples to the ground.
An image released of the suspect was obtained from a youth hostel where the gunman apparently stayed before the hit, with media reporting he had lowered his mask to flirt with a receptionist.
A photo on what appeared to be one of Mangione’s social media accounts includes an X-ray of an apparently injured spine, though no explicit political affiliation has emerged.
The highly profitable US medical insurance system is the source of deep frustration and anger among many Americans due to its steep costs and limited coverage, and Thompson’s death was greeted with an absence of sympathy by some.
A Facebook post mourning his loss, shared by UnitedHealth Group, racked up more than 71,000 laugh emojis within two days before the counter was disabled.
Mangione must now be extradited from Pennsylvania to New York to face murder charges, police said.