Former classmate of Luigi Mangione reacts to arrest: 'It was just shock'

NEW YORK CITY - A former classmate of Luigi Mangione spoke to our sister station, FOX 10 Phoenix, after the suspect was arrested Monday in Pennsylvania.

JUMP TO: HOW WAS MANGIONE ARRESTED? l MANGIONE BACKGROUND

Although Mangione has no immediate ties to Arizona, his former classmate lives in Scottsdale and said he was shocked at the news.

"I would say I spoke to him pretty frequently," said Corey Wey. "He was a leader in our class, so I'm not quite sure the clubs, because it was a while back, but he was a leader of clubs. He was in many clubs. He was a soccer player as well."

He says they graduated from Gilam School in 2016, a private all-boys school in Baltimore, Maryland. He describes it as a small high school with about 85 to 100 students in each grade.

"He spoke at our graduation. Every year, they have somebody who exceeds academically, in and out of the classroom, and have them speak in front of our high school," he said. "It's weird saying it, but yes, he was that person that was chosen to speak."

Nothing unusual stood out to Wey years ago.

"Everyone just knew him as a quiet, reserved, nice kid, and he was obviously really intelligent and everyone can tell that by his resume, of course," the former classmate said.

As the manhunt began for the killer seen on surveillance video fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, and then fleeing, Wey became interested in the high-profile case, but didn't make the connection.

"I had no hindrance that it was him. I mean, in the back of my mind, I was like, I feel like that face is familiar, but it was subconsciously, not really on the forefront," Wey said.

It wasn't until he saw the mug shot and video of Mangione being taken into custody that he knew it was – someone he'd lost touch with over the years.

"My initial reactions were just shocked, surprised, and I would just never suspect someone who went to our school to be involved in this," Wey said. "So, it was just shock, really. I'm really shocked."

How was Mangione arrested?

Mangione was taken into custody on Monday around 9:15 a.m. ET after police got a tip that he was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

According to court documents, Mangione was sitting at a table in the rear of the McDonald's wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a silver laptop computer and had a backpack on the floor.

When he pulled down his mask, Altoona police officers "immediately recognized him as the suspect" in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the documents say.

Asked for identification, Mangione provided officers with a fake ID — a New Jersey driver’s license bearing another name and the incorrect date of birth.

When an officer asked Mangione if he’d been to New York recently, he "became quiet and started to shake," the court documents say.

He was carrying a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace, investigators said.

Mangione had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, Tisch said.

Police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had "ill will toward corporate America," Kenny said. The handwritten document "speaks to both his motivation and mindset," Tisch said.

He was being held in Pennsylvania on gun charges and eventually will be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson’s death, Kenny said.

Luigi Mangione background

Authorities said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, and he was the valedictorian in the 2016 class at Baltimore’s private Gilman School. In his graduation speech, he talked about his classmates’ "incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things," the Associated Press reported.

"Quite honestly, he had everything going for him," said Freddie Leatherbury, a former classmate. Leatherbury described Mangione as a smart, friendly and athletic student who came from a wealthy family, even by the private school’s standards.

He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesman told The Associated Press on Monday.

He learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication.

His posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, the New Jersey shore and other destinations.

In a statement, Stanford confirmed someone with the same name was previously employed as a counselor at the college.

"We can confirm that a person by the name of Luigi Mangione was employed as a head counselor under the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies program between May and September of 2019," a university spokesperson told our sister station KTVU.

According to his LinkedIn account, Mangione was employed with TrueCar, Inc. A spokesperson confirmed that "Mangione has not been an employee of our company since 2023."

He also has ties to San Francisco and his last known address is in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Mangione family Maryland

One of his cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesperson for the delegate’s office confirmed Monday.

Luigi Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of Nick Mangione Sr., according to a 2008 obituary.

Mangione Sr. grew up poor in Baltimore’s Little Italy and rose after his World War II naval service to become a millionaire real estate developer and philanthropist, according to a 1995 profile by the Baltimore Sun. He and his wife Mary Cuba Mangione, who died in 2023, directed their philanthropy through the Mangione Family Foundation, according to a statement from Loyola University commemorating her death. They donated to a variety of causes, ranging from Catholic organizations to higher education, to the arts.

Mangione Sr. was known for Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. The father of 10 children, Nick Mangione Sr. prepared his five sons — including Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to help manage the family business, according to a 2003 Washington Post report.

The Mangione family also purchased Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday afternoon, Baltimore County police officers had blocked off an entrance to the property, which public records link to Luigi Mangione’s parents. A swarm of reporters and photographers gathered outside the entrance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.