Alleged CEO killer tries to exclude evidence from US murder trial

Luigi Mangione watched stoically in court on Monday as prosecutors played surveillance videos showing the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York pavement last year and Mangione’s arrest five days later at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.

The videos, including footage from the restaurant previously unseen by the press or the public, kicked off a hearing on Mangione’s fight to bar evidence from his state murder trial, including the gun prosecutors say matches the one used in the December 4, 2024, attack.

Thompson was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.

Mangione, 27, pressed a finger to his lips and a thumb to his chin as he watched footage of two police officers approaching him as he ate breakfast at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 370km (230 miles) west of Manhattan.

He gripped a pen in his right hand, making a fist at times, as prosecutors played a 911 call from a McDonald’s manager relaying concerns from customers that Mangione looked like the suspect in Thompson’s killing.