Luigi Mangione — an Ivy League-educated engineer — was named a person of interest in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson was shot in New York City on December 4, 2024, before attending his company’s investor conference. After a five-day manhunt, police stopped Mangione at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Authorities found a gun and fake IDs on Mangione.
“A man was taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania this morning. He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in a statement. “He’s a male, 26 years old, he was born and raised in Maryland. We know he has ties to San Francisco, California, and his last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii. He has no prior arrest history in New York.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams added that Mangione is a “strong person of interest” in the Thompson‘s case, adding that Mangione “matches the description of the identification we’ve been looking for” and was “in possession of several items that [authorities] believe will connect him to this incident.”
Mangione’s education background has become a major topic amid the investigation. Learn more about where he went to school, below.
Luigi Mangione Attended the Gilman School
According to multiple outlets, Mangione attended a boys’ private school in Baltimore, Maryland, called the Gilman School. The school’s website promotes, “The pursuit of excellence begins here.” Gilman’s tuition and fees for high school students starts at $37,000 per year.
CBS News reported that Mangione was the valedictorian of his graduating high school class in 2016.
In response to Mangione’s arrest, the head of Gilman, Henry P.A. Smyth, wrote in an email obtained by CNN, “This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.
Mangione Studied Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
Mangione went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in engineering, computer and information science, according to a LinkedIn profile that appears to be his. Mangione also minored in mathematics.
While attending UPenn — an Ivy League school — Mangione worked as the project lead of a university video game development program from 2016 to 2020, per his LinkedIn. In 2019, he was a teaching assistant in the “head of recitation committee.”
Where Did Mangione Work?
Mangione had been working as a data engineer for TrueCar, Inc, in Santa Monica, California, for four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. However, his LinkedIn page notes that he had been living in Hawaii.