The legal defense fund for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, surpassed the $1 million mark in donations on Tuesday, organizers said.
The fundraising effort run through the online platform GiveSendGo had topped $1.04 million in donations by Tuesday afternoon.
Organizers said these contributions represent "a step forward in pursuing justice for Mr. Mangione" as donors showed "their grievances with our lethal for-profit healthcare system and the indefensible economic and political order that has imposed it upon us."
"This milestone was reached because of the continued resonance of Mr. Mangione’s story," Sam Beard, a spokesperson for the December 4 Legal Committee, said in a statement.
Organizers said they hope the fundraiser, which has received over 28,000 individual contributions with a median contribution of $20, reaches the $1.5 million mark.
The funds will cover expenses associated with all three pending criminal cases against Mangione in New York and Pennsylvania.
Mangione, who turned 27 on Tuesday, is facing both state and federal charges in New York in connection with the Dec. 4 slaying of Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
Thompson was on his way to speak at UnitedHealth Group’s investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown when he was shot from behind, authorities said.
After a five-day manhunt, Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He faces state charges in Pennsylvania for allegedly carrying an unlicensed firearm, forgery, and providing false identification.
If convicted of federal charges, Mangione could be sentenced to death.
Thompson's slaying immediately launched an unseemly wave of support for his killer, days before Mangione was captured in Pennsylvania.
A representative of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the donations.
