Unabomber’s Brother Pained At Idea CEO Suspect ‘Influenced’ By ‘Disturbed’ Sibling’s Manifesto
(AP Photo/John Youngbear, File)
David Kaczynski, the brother of infamous domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, condemned the notion that his sibling’s violent legacy might have inspired Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Ted Kaczynski, a mathematics prodigy who became a recluse, murdered three people and injured 23 in a nationwide mail bombing campaign that spanned 1978 and 1995. He targeted people he believed were advancing technology to the detriment of the natural environment, detailing his beliefs in a 35,000-word manifesto.
Speaking to NBC reporters via phone on Tuesday, David Kaczynski expressed pain over the possibility that his brother’s actions decades ago could still resonate today in acts of violence.
“It really gives me a great deal of personal pain to think my brother’s actions have in any way contributed to influencing a man like this to kill an innocent human being,” David Kaczynski said.
Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, is accused of having gunned down Thompson in front of a New York City hotel last Wednesday. Authorities describe the attack as a “premeditated, preplanned targeted” act. Following a dayslong manhunt, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. In a court appearance Tuesday, he denied extradition to New York and had his bail revoked.
Investigators revealed that Mangione had reviewed Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, giving it a four-star rating on Goodreads. In the comment, he praised its critiques of modern society: “It’s easy to quickly and thoughtlessly write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic… But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out.”
Likewise a notebook found in Mangione’s possession when arrested, which revealed his planning of the attack, he reportedly also referenced Kaczynski.
David Kaczynski, however, was quick to dissuade any admiration: “To the extent that he may have attributed at all to sort of normalizing or recasting the violent acts as beneficial to humanity is a terrible mistake.”
He said. “They could be like a virus unless they understand he was a very angry and disturbed man.”
NYPD officials are investigating the motive for Mangione’s actions and whether he drew possible inspiration from Kaczynski’s rhetoric.
Reflecting on his brother’s legacy, David Kaczynski added, “Acts of violence… send out waves of harm. I hope my brother wasn’t in a way a key model for him.”
