UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Tompson, aged 50, was shot and killed in broad daylight on Dec. 4 allegedly by 26-year-old Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione. Thompson took the position as CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of America’s leading health insurance companies, in 2021. Mangione, on the other hand, is from a prevalent family in Towson, Maryland, and allegedly meticulously planned the murder and tracked down the CEO for days prior. Mangione was charged with the murder of Thompson as an act of terrorism.
Since the killing, there has been much debate online about whether or not the murder was justified. Many Americans feel that the healthcare system is flawed and is responsible for denying many people the medical care that they need.
“The suffering caused by these denials had a major impact on people’s opinions of the shooting,” junior Trevor Douglas said. “He may have been seen as someone doing something about the injustice caused by UnitedHealthcare’s greed.”
As the internet has had much time to debrief the situation and its morality, much backlash, as well as admiration, has been shown regarding Mangione.
“Some people were celebrating it and saying he was a hero, and others were [saying] that [he] should never have done that,” junior Gabriella Armstead said. “At the end of the day, he still killed someone. It’s not like he’s any different from anyone that’s killed someone before.”
Mangione’s trial was initially scheduled for Jan. 18, but was later pushed back to Feb. 21. The outraged public expressed their opinions of why or why not he should go to prison for the murder of Thompson.
“People have put someone like this on a pedestal knowing that he’s hurt someone, and knowing that his actions have impacted the lives of other people as well. Especially [Thompson’s] family,” Armstead said. “He has a wife and he has children, and that has obviously affected his family, so it’s just really interesting to see the way people have praised this man for what he did.”
A significant amount of perpetual support that Mangione receives is from young women. Discussions regarding Mangione’s conventional attractiveness have circulated through the internet as people question the morality of his alleged crimes.
“Pretty privilege exists; had it been an uglier person responsible, he would likely have had a less positive reception from some people,” Douglas said.
Additionally, there was much discourse about whether or not Mangione deserved the terrorism charges, or if it was even applicable to the murder.
“I don’t think it’s terrorism at all. The conversations his killing has sparked create similar conversations as terrorism, but I personally don’t think the action itself should be reasonably seen that way,” Douglas said. “Because it was an extremely wealthy healthcare CEO, it’s treated as terrorism.”
The public anticipates the impending outcome of the trial that looms ahead. The slim likelihood of an impartial jury raises concerns about the integrity of the case.
“They’re going to have a very hard time finding an unbiased jury,” Armstead said. “Because of the media coverage, there’s a lot of things being put out there that may be wrong or especially biased, so it’s going to be very, very difficult to find people that don’t have an opinion about the situation. If they have strong enough evidence that cannot be disputed, then I honestly think that the trial will go well [and] he’ll get time for the charges.”
The defense pleaded not guilty on all murder and possession charges on Dec. 23. With many concerns and opinions being shared on social platforms and in public spaces alike, the public fails to reach a consensus for the inferred outcome of the trial. Many have questions as to what the lack of empathy surrounding the murder case says not only about the defendant but what it says about society.
