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By Aila Slisco
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Luigi Mangione, the suspect in last week's fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is facing a mountain of evidence that will be "very difficult" to overcome, according to attorney Mercedes Colwin.
Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday morning at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania—hundreds of miles away from the site of Thompson's killing in New York City. Local police said he was carrying a handwritten manifesto, fake identification and a silencer-equipped "ghost gun" at the time of his arrest.
Pennsylvania authorities quickly booked Mangione on weapons and forgery charges, with prosecutors in Manhattan filing a murder charge hours later. He is being held without bail in Pennsylvania while fighting extradition to New York, a move that could delay, but is unlikely to block, his prosecution for murder.
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Appearing on CNN Tuesday, Colwin suggested that evidence immediately available to prosecutors following Mangione's arrest would make mounting a successful defense extraordinarily difficult for his lawyer.
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"The fact that you have an ID, that is very problematic for the defense," Colwin said. "The fact that you have the manifesto—very problematic. The fact that you have a ghost gun that was apparently created with a 3D machine...not just the gun but the silencer, that is obviously very problematic.
"Of course, that will have to be lined up with ballistics experts, and they will have to show some connection to all of that evidence to the shooting of Brian Thompson," she continued. "But it is very difficult and something that the defense is going to have to overcome."
Altoona defense attorney Thomas Dickey represented Mangione during an extradition hearing on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Dickey's office via email on Tuesday afternoon.
In addition to the evidence gathered by the arresting officers in Pennsylvania, New York City Police Department (NYPD) investigators have gathered much evidence related to Thompson's killing on December 4.
During a Tuesday appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that early evidence gathered in New York, including "some forensic evidence, some DNA evidence [and] some fingerprints," made investigators "very confident" that they would eventually "get to the right person."
"We do have a lot of evidence in this case," Tisch said. "When he was found, he was in possession of the same New Jersey fake identification that was used at the hostel. The gun looks very similar, with a similar suppressor.
"We were thrilled to get the call the other day from Altoona Police Department saying that they had our person of interest in custody," she added.
Mangione disputed some key evidence during his first court appearance in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, suggesting that $10,000 in cash prosecutors alleged he was carrying at the time of his arrest may have been "planted."
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