Dozens of Young Women in Courtroom to Support Luigi Mangione: Reports

About “two dozen” women were in the court’s public gallery today to support gunman Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to multiple news reports.

Mangione, 26, entered the Manhattan court room in shackles and a maroon sweater over a white collared shirt. His own family was not present, but about 24 women were in the courtroom to support him. Many of the women were wearing face masks and some were visibly emotional, according to ABC news.

This is not the first time Mangione has seen support because of his looks, especially after an image of him smiling, unmasked at a New York City hostel hit the internet. Many have joked on social media that the gunman is joining a list of “hot criminals” that also includes Jeremy Meeks who was arrested in 2014 for illegal gun possession and gun activity and has since become a model.

There are also additional charges related to criminal possession of a weapon. The maximum penalty for first-degree murder and second-degree as an act of terrorism is life without parole. The maximum for second-degree murder is 25 years to life.

On Monday, Mangione pleaded not guilty to state murder charges.

Mangione, 26, was arrested in Pennsylvania last week following a search for a gunman believed to have fatally shot Thompson, 50, on December 4 in Manhattan.

Thompson was shot outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown, where UnitedHealthcare was holding its investor conference. A hooded attacker, who appeared to have been lying in wait, fled on foot to a back alley and then took an e-bike in the direction of Central Park.

Mangione was being held without bail in Pennsylvania, where he is charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. The most serious of those charges, forgery, is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Mangione has pled not guilty to those charges.

He is now in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC).

The NYPD said Mangione’s fingerprints appear to match those found near the site of the shooting. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference last week that the shell casings recovered at the site matched the 3D-printed gun that Mangione possessed when he was detained in Altoona, Pennsylvania.