Trump criticizes UnitedHealthcare CEO for supporting a murder suspect.
Online support for Luigi Mangione following his arrest in the murder of Brian Thompson.
The murder of a health insurance executive on Monday was condemned by President-elect Donald Trump as a "sickness" after viral support for the killing was posted online.
During a news briefing Monday, the incoming president condemned the ambush shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as "cold-blooded and horrible," a week after the arrest of 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania alumnus Luigi Mangione for the crime.
""I believe it's truly appalling that some individuals appear to admire him, and I find it to be a cold-blooded, heinous act," Trump stated."
A wealthy Maryland computer programmer with an Ivy League background, Mangione, is accused of stalking Thompson to a Manhattan hotel and shooting him in the back with a suppressed, 3D-printed handgun.
A surveillance photo of a grinning man flirting with a young woman at a New York City hostel was shared by police days before identifying him as a suspect in the murder.
The image was widely circulated online, with an interstate effort to identify the individual and praise from critics of the health insurance industry.
Trump stated on Monday that it's a sickness for people to like this guy.
The manner in which the murder was committed, with gunshots fired from behind, greatly shocked him.
An hour and 15 minutes before the annual conference of UnitedHealthcare, a surveillance video captured Thompson entering the Manhattan Hilton hotel where the event was to be held.
Although the attack was violent, several commentators commended the unmasked suspect's looks and the target of the assault, the health insurance sector.
Efforts to raise money for his legal defense were halted by online fundraising sites. His likeness was featured in viral memes. Radical commentators lauded the killing and criticized the witnesses who spotted him at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and reported it to authorities.
As a result of the threats, the restaurant, its employees, and local police have all received death threats. Additionally, other large healthcare companies have removed portraits and biographical information of their corporate leaders from their websites.
A woman who witnessed the murder fled in the other direction as a masked man stepped out behind the victim, fired into his back, and walked away.
In New York and Pennsylvania, Mangione is being accused of several offenses, including second-degree murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and carrying a fake ID.
Last week, a Pennsylvania judge was informed by his lawyer that he intended to challenge extradition to New York.
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