Luigi Mangione seemed "nervous" and claimed he was homeless when a Pennsylvania police officer confronted him in a McDonald's restaurant last December, the law enforcement officer testified during a pretrial hearing Tuesday.
The tense encounter ultimately led to Mangione's arrest, capping off a five-day national manhunt. Mangione, 27, pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.
Altoona Police Officer Joseph Detwiler took the witness stand Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court as part of a complex hearing focused on Mangione's lawyers' bid to exclude evidence from his state murder trial. The proceedings could last at least a week.
Detwiler told the court that he was the first officer to arrive at the McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024, after a dispatcher got a call from the restaurant manager. The officer walked up to a table where Mangione was eating.
"I knew it was him immediately" after Mangione removed the blue medical mask he had been wearing, Detwiler testified.
"He's real nervous and not talking too much," Detwiler added, referring to Mangione's demeanor at the time. "I saw his fingers shaking a little bit."
Detwiler said he asked Mangione whether he was visiting family. Mangione replied that he was "homeless." Detwiler then asked Mangione whether he had recently been in New York. Mangione claimed that he had not.
In body camera video played in court Tuesday, Detwiler can be heard whistling the Christmas tune "Jingle Bell Rock" while Mangione eats hash browns.
"I was trying to keep things normal and calm, to make him think there is nothing different about this call than any other call," Detwiler said, adding that he attempted to make small talk about steak sandwiches.
Eventually, other law enforcement officers joined Detwiler in the McDonald's. Detwiler testified that Mangione originally gave police a fake New Jersey identification card with the name "Mark Rosario."
But when a patrolman warned Mangione that he was being investigated and faced arrest if he gave a false name, Mangione came clean and confirmed his real identity.
The body camera video shows the same patrolman reading Miranda warnings to Mangione. The officer asks: "Do you understand?" Mangione can be heard saying yes.
Detwiler testified that Mangione had more than $5,000 in $100 bills inside a blue-and-white wallet. "It appeared to be a lot of money, and there was some foreign currency inside," he said.
Karen Agnifilo, one of Mangione's lawyers, cross-examined Detwiler in the hearing's final hour. In a tense exchange, Agnifilo asked whether Detwiler and the other officers had attempted to block Mangione from leaving the McDonald's.
"He was not free to leave until I could identity who he was," Detwiler replied. "I did not strategically place myself anywhere. I just stood there."
Mangione, wearing a dark navy suit jacket over a checkered dress shirt, appeared mostly expressionless during Tuesday's proceedings, occasionally turning to glance at spectators in the courtroom's gallery.
Monday's proceedings featured testimony from a corrections officer who guarded Mangione during his stay at a Pennsylvania state prison. Tomas Rivers, the guard, said the two men talked about the differences between private and universal health insurance, among other topics.
Rivers also testified that Mangione was on "constant watch" in part because the prison wanted to avoid an "Epstein-style situation," a reference to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in federal custody in 2019.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Thompson, 50, in the back on Dec. 4, 2024, while Thompson was heading to a UnitedHealthcare investor conference in Manhattan.
The state charges against Mangione include one count of second-degree murder, seven counts of various weapons charges and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Mangione originally faced 11 state charges. But in September, Judge Gregory Carro tossed out two of the more severe counts: first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism and second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism.
Detwiler's testimony included brief moments of levity in the courtroom.
Asked by prosecutors whether it was typical for Altoona residents to wear masks, he replied: "We don't wear masks. We have antibodies." The remark drew laughter from the gallery.
Detwiler also described a sarcastic text message from his lieutenant. "If you get the NYC shooter," the text read, "I will buy you a hoagie."
