Another One
So when the suspect in the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania he had "multiple fraudulent IDs, a U.S. passport, a gun and a suppressor consistent with those used in the attack" on his person. Not to mention a "a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset."
And now that the police have said that the gun appears to be a match for the shell casings found at the scene, it's all lead to me wonder why Luigi Mangione didn't simply walk to the nearest police station and turn himself in. But I will admit that this is mainly because, had it been me, the fake ID that was used to check into places in New York City and the gun would have found their way to the bottom of a river in short order. As for the "manifesto" as media stories have taken to calling it, I could see carrying it if I expected to be gunned down at the scene, but after that? The World Wide Web is a much better place to get one's message out. Now, I doubt that more than a handful of people will ever see the thing.
Which may be a shame. I get that a number of people are disturbed by the gunman's "folk hero" status, and don't want other people following in his footsteps, but if anyone's going to do that, those wheels are already turning. If Mr. Mangione was the killer, preventing the public at large from reading the document simply closes off an avenue of understanding.
Sure, in an effort to fill the 24-hour news cycle and attract audiences (and the advertising dollars that follow them) news outlets will interview anyone with a pulse who can tell them something about Mr. Mangione, but it's likely that all that will be released of the "manifesto" are incriminating snippets.
It's become something of a cliché in cases like this to speak to a friend or neighbor who expresses nothing but utter surprise that the suspect could commit whatever crime they're accused of. And then it turns out that they're no different than the last ten people whose untreated mental illnesses led to tragedies. There's a case to be made for anticipating this being the case, and better public understanding of what people in these situations are like before they open fire might allow for interventions before bloodshed happens. But the fear of copycats, founded or not, will win out.
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