A McDonald’s manager calling 911 from Altoona, Pennsylvania, one year ago told a dispatcher a man in the restaurant “looks like the CEO shooter,” amid a dayslong manhunt to find the person responsible for gunning down a health insurance executive outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel.
A state judge heard a recording of that call Monday as defendant Luigi Mangione sat in a Manhattan court hearing where his lawyers are arguing key evidence in his case should be thrown out before his murder trial.
This week’s suppression hearings, typically low-profile procedural affairs, were expected to draw large crowds and intense scrutiny. As during some of his past court hearings, Mangione’s supporters camped out in front of the courthouse before the proceedings. They were dressed up as various Nintendo characters from the Super Mario franchise and held signs reading “Free Luigi” and bashing the American health insurance industry.
The judge in Mangione’s state case could set a trial date in the coming days. He has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges, and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in their case.
Mangione appeared in state court Monday in a gray suit and checkered shirt. Court officers unshackled him so he could take notes during the proceedings.
Monday’s hearing included testimony from numerous witnesses, including an NYPD sergeant assigned to the department’s public information office who described sending images of the suspected shooter to news media.
An emergency coordinator from Pennsylvania who testified at the hearing described the 911 call that came from the Altoona McDonald’s on Dec. 9. On the recording that prosecutors played, the manager of the fast-food restaurant told the dispatcher that customers believed the shooter was there.
The manager said customers were “really upset,” as heard on the call. In the background, the recording captured McDonald’s orders continuing to come through as the manager spoke with the dispatcher.
Prosecutors also played widely shared footage showing a masked man — whom investigators argue is Mangione — shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Midtown Hilton at point-blank range. Mangione watched the footage without visible emotion and took notes.
And the government called Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Officer Thomas Rivers to testify. Rivers said he monitored Mangione when he was held at the high-security SCI-Huntington prison before being transported to New York. Rivers said Mangione was put on “constant watch,” a procedure usually used for someone who’s a threat to themselves, because the superintendent told him “SCI [State Correctional Institution] Huntington did not want an ‘Epstein-style’ situation.”
Defense attorneys for Mangione argue police officers didn’t read Mangione his Miranda rights or have a proper warrant when they arrested him and searched his backpack in the Altoona McDonald’s. Prosecutors say police did nothing wrong and the backpack’s contents tie the 27-year-old to Thompson’s killing.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct Tomas Rivers’ name.
