Luigi Mangione | ‘Popular’ suspect
The HinduNot long after an election that polarised the nation and threw up Donald Trump as the winner, civil society in the U.S. stands divided yet again over a man: 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who allegedly shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Manhattan on December 4. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.” “We do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,” Mr. Shapiro said. As police try and figure out if Mangione, who had a back problem and did correction procedure, acted out of self-interest or handed out “vigilante justice”, public support has swelled. His X account grew by more than 4,00,000 followers since the shooting, close to $31,000 was raised on GiveSendGo and “#FreeLuigi“ and “hot assassin” tags spread on social media — with engagement levels crossing what was witnessed during Donald Trump’s assassination attempt. Save for a goodreads account where he posted a review commending the “prescient” nature of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s Industrial Society and its future, Mangione’s political standing can only be described as heterodox at best.