So, he shot the guy in the back because he wanted the guy to expecience back pain.
This is my belief, too. As many have suggested, Mangione could have done several things differently. For example, an easy fix for the likely event of someone in NYC asking him to take down his mask would have been to grow facial hair. (We know he planned this crime in advance.) Then he could have shaved it off–maybe even in Central Park. He could have purchased food and camped out in the woods (in a southern state, perhaps) for weeks until the story fell out of the news cycle. Etc. etc.
But he wanted to be caught. He wants to make his point. He’s happy to go to trial, assuming he can get up on the stand and say what he wants to say.
It may be because he’s in chronic pain; he can’t see any way to have a good life, so he’s decided to do this with his life.
Ken Klippenstein has published what seems to be the actual manifesto that was found when they apprehended him:
“To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it. My tech is pretty locked down because I work in engineering so probably not much info there. I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed them to get away with it. Obviously the problem is more complex, but I do not have space, and frankly I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. But many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.”
He was 100% planning to get caught and had everything by his side so there was no doubt as to who he was when they caught him.
Yes. And moreover I believe he’s not going to fight to avoid prison. (Though I could see him pleading ‘not guilty’ in order to ensure he gets a trial and thus another chance to say his piece.)
I am curious if they were being stingy with pain medication. I have some significant back issues myself and the doctors give me Tylenol and Gabapentin.
If he has become addicted, that could complicate a life.
Nowadays undermedication by legit docs is a bigger problem than overmedication by now-better-camoflaged pill mills.
Absolutely. I had been on some kind of opiate medication since the mid 1990s after years of massive ibuprofen doses tore a hole in my stomach.
I was hit by a car when I was 3 and drug down the street which resulted in a number of painful injuries that follow me to this day.
My doctor retired last year and had tapered me off the last of the pain medication. Now I struggle with the occasional prednisone Rx and OTC meds which my body has difficulty tolerating.
My quality of life was much better while on the medications but I have no choice at this point.
I can understand someone going through this at a young age.
Compared to the pizza-with-Kraft-singles linked above, McDonald’s was probably the better choice. 
Thanks for sharing that. Pretty crappy manifesto. “I threw my life away for this cause but I’m too lazy and under-qualified to fully put it into words so ‘parasites need killing’ kay bye.”
He has a lawyer. Thomas Dickey who is a long time defense attorney based in Altoona. He was a public defender before going into private practice in 1984 and has appeared on CNN and local tv. He’s planning on fighting extradition to NY.
This guy had to know that he would be captured sooner or later, but the longer he evaded capture, the greater his legend would grow. Why make it so easy?
I was hoping for 30 days or indefinite instead of 5 days.
Looks to be just the kind of slimeball lawyer I would have expected to take the case. The first words out of his mouth were that he’s seen “zero evidence” that his client has done anything wrong. This should go well. 
I live a mile from that murder scene. Our Police knew a lot more than they were telling, and were watching him a good while before the arrest.
(Not trying to hijack the thread.)
Especially since extradition between states doesn’t require the requesting state to provide evidence that the person committed the crime to the state where the person was found. The evidence will have been shown to a judge in Manhattan when NYPD obtained a warrant. All the PA court is going to consider is whether he is the person named in the indictment or complaint and not some other Luigi Mangione, which won’t be an issue in this case.
I guess Alan Dershowitz must have been unavailable.
I’m not sure I agree with this snip. It would certainly have been true 20+ years ago.
In the current tiktok-driven world there is today’s hotness, yesterday’s hotness, and the undifferentiated ooze of all human history from the day before yesterday back to the ape-men of the Olduvai.
This kid grew up in that tiktok world.
He may have thought, IMO rightly, that after 5 days he was about to become online nobody if he didn’t get caught soon.
I don’t know this guy, but I wouldn’t call him a slimeball for that quote. Any lawyer would say something like that.
I’ve had photophobia (large pupils in my case) all my life and at various times have worn shades indoors, outdoors, year round. The glare of overcast days can be just as uncomfotrtable as direct sunlight.
Every defendant—even one as obviously guilty as Mangione—is deserving of a vigorous defense. As long as Dickey doesn’t compel his client to lie under oath, present false evidence or knowingly fraudulent testimony, tamper with the jury, or somehow influence the judge into ‘throwing’ the trial, he is not a “slimeball lawyer”; he is defense counsel doing his best in ensuring that his client receives the best deal that he can, either in terms of a plea agreement (likely unless the client’s family is willing to provide extensive financial resources or Dickey has a substantial war chest), or his “day in court” to explain his motivations and any mitigating factors for the jury to consider in their deliberations. He will certainly get more consideration and just legal representation than the hundreds of thousands of clients of United Healthcare whose medical claims and treatment requests were unjustly denied and forced into an arbitration process overseen and ultimately determined by UHC.
Given the evidence already known to be available, plus whatever forensic evidence and circumstantial testimony about Mangione’s movements, motivations, and any statements he may have made to potential prosecution witnesses, the likelihood of some ‘magic shrinking glove’ lawyering getting him an acquittal is so negligible that conviction is virtually a foregone conclusion unless the defendant is somehow found to be mentally incapable of formulating intent or understanding the the nature of the proceedings. But I am not a lawyer so perhaps someone experienced in criminal law such as @Moriarty will weigh in with the benefit of practical experience in this area.
Stranger
A somewhat interesting article* about the aftermath (immediate and ongoing) at UnitedHealth.
One thing that caught me a bit off guard: After the executives were directed to another hotel entrance …
The executives headed into the building and upstairs to the conference area where they sipped coffee, chatted and proceeded to get their hair and makeup done.
Given that “executives” are mostly / almost always male, I found that last bit borderline creepy.
* Sorry, Discourse wouldn’t embed. Something about a missing image.