A man has been arrested for allegedly impersonating an FBI agent in a bid to free Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024.
Hailing from Minnesota’s Mankato, Mark Anderson, 36, arrived at a federal jail in Brooklyn and was carrying a pizza cutter, according to a criminal complaint.
Anderson, charged in the criminal complaint in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, appeared before a judge on Thursday, but has not entered a plea, BBC reported.
While the complaint does not name Mangione, people familiar with the matter told the New York Times that Anderson was trying to free him.
As per the criminal complaint, the accused arrived at the jail around 6:50 PM (local time) on Wednesday and introduced himself as an FBI agent to the jail officials. He claimed to have paperwork “signed by a judge”, authorising the release of a jail inmate.
When officers asked him for credentials, Anderson provided a Minnesota driver’s license and claimed to be in possession of weapons. He then started throwing various documents at the officials. The complaint highlights that the documents were related to suing the US Justice Department.
He was then detained by the officials who later searched his bag and found a pizza cutter along with a barbecue fork. Anderson is said to have been working at a pizzeria in New York.
Anderson now faces a charge of impersonating an officer.
Mangione, 27, has continued to receive support ever since he was arrested in the murder case of the health care executive. Several people have contributed to his legal defense fund and even sent him letters, books and personal photographs at the Metropolitan Detention Centre.
As of Thursday, his defense fund had collected nearly $1.4 million.
Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated by Mangione in Manhattan in 2024. Mangione has been charged with murder in both federal and state courts. The case captured widespread attention after a viral video highlighted a man wearing a mask walking behind Thompson and shooting him.
Authorities have claimed that Mangione waited outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan for about an hour when Thompson arrived there for a UnitedHealthcare investors’ day gathering.
Mangione immediately left the city and scattered his belongings across the city. He was finally taken into custody at a McDonalds in Pennsylvania’s Altoona after a multi-state manhunt. Post that, he was extradited to New York.
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