Brian Thompson’s Family Speaks Out After Luigi Mangione’s Guilty Plea as Sentencing Date Is Set

AP Photo/Ryan Murphy

The family of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson called Luigi Mangione’s guilty plea “an important step toward justice,” as the now-confessed killer’s sentencing date was officially set.

In their first public statements since the father of two was brutally gunned down on a Manhattan street, the Thompson family noted more potential prosecutions ahead for Mangione following Friday’s emergency hearing in Manhattan Federal Court.

“Today’s guilty plea marks an important step toward justice for Brian and for our family. While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable,” the family said in a statement.

“Now we look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime. We remain mindful that additional proceedings in New York and Pennsylvania are still to come, and we will continue to seek the justice Brian deserves.”

Thompson, 50, shared two teenage sons with wife Paulette Thompson, who attended the emergency hearing in which Mangione, 28, coldly described his early morning assassination of the healthcare executive.

Mangione, whose sentencing on federal stalking charges has been set for Dec. 18, said in court that he had endured “years of pain” from a broken back when he learned UnitedHealthcare would hold its annual investors conference on Dec. 4, 2024, getting the specific location in New York City after some online research.

He admitted emailing the company posing as an investor before shooting Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown. The executive was alone, without security, as he headed to the conference.

“Before traveling to New York, I used a 3D printer to make a gun. I traveled to New York with the intent to shoot Brian Thompson. On the morning of Dec. 4 2024 I shot Mr. Thompson,” Mangione said, according to Fox News.

“I knew what I was doing,” he added.

Mangione was arrested at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five day manhunt. He also faces state murder charges in New York, but could escape that case because arguments his attorneys are expected to make regarding the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on double jeopardy.