Suspect apprehended in UHC shooting was former Firaxis Games intern

On Dec. 4, a masked person shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of Manhattan. On Monday, a McDonald’s employee in Pennsylvania spotted someone who resembled the shooter; that person, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, has since been arrested, according to AP. Information about Mangione immediately circulated online, including his background in video game development and a stint working for Civilization developer Firaxis Games. A representative from Firaxis Games confirmed to Polygon that Mangione had previously worked there, but declined to offer further comment.

At the time of writing, Mangione has been charged with forgery, carrying a gun without a license, falsely identifying himself to the authorities, and possessing “instruments of crime.”

According to Mangione’s LinkedIn page, he worked on Civilization 6 as a UI Programming intern from 2016-2017. Also in 2016, via his LinkedIn, he cofounded Upgrade, a video game development club at the University of Pennsylvania; he graduated from UPenn in 2020 with a combined master’s and bachelor’s degree in computer science. Mangione’s career appears to have diverted away from game development after his stint at Firaxis, according to the LinkedIn page.

When he was apprehended on Monday, Mangione was carrying a “ghost gun,” a term describing a gun without a serial number that may have been made using parts created with a 3D printer. He was also carrying multiple fake IDs and, according to the New York Times, “a handwritten manifesto that criticized health care companies for putting profits above care, according to two law enforcement officials.”

At this time, he has not been charged with Thompson’s killing. The NYT reports, “the fake ID that Mr. Mangione showed the police was the same one that the man believed to be the gunman presented when he checked into a hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Nov. 24, a senior law enforcement official said.”