(NewsNation) — As a pretrial hearing for Luigi Mangione continues, an officer who arrested him after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson testified about statements he made during his first court appearance.
Officer Stephen Fox testified Tuesday, saying as he was escorting Mangione out of a courtroom in Pennsylvania following his first court appearance after being arrested, he thought Mangione was calling himself a “mass murderer.”
When asked how he would characterize the size of crowds and media presence in the courtroom at the time, Fox said both crowds were large. That’s when he said Mangione looked back at the crowd and said, “All of these people here for a mass murderer. Wild.”
Mangione is only accused of one murder, that of Thompson, so it is unclear if the officer misspoke when he allegedly heard “mass murderer” or if that is what Mangione actually said. It’s even possible Mangione was referring to Thompson as being a “mass murderer.”
From what is gathered from Mangione’s alleged writings, he had issues with the health care industry.
More evidence from the case was released, including scraps with an alleged escape plan that Mangione had written, which also had a map of Pittsburgh and surrounding states as well as info on red-eye flights out of Pennsylvania.
He also allegedly had a to-do list, which had a reminder to evade cameras for more than three hours and to pluck his eyebrows. His eyebrows were how the employee at the Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s was able to recognize him.
During the pretrial hearing, Mangione’s lawyers alleged many items from his backpack were taken during an illegal search and that he was not read his Miranda rights. The attorneys are looking to have that evidence thrown out of court.