President-elect Donald Trump known as the glorification of taking pictures suspect Luigi Mangione a “illness,” criticizing individuals who have celebrated the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York earlier this month.
“I feel it’s actually horrible that some individuals appear to admire him, like him. And I used to be comfortable to see that it wasn’t particular to this gentleman that was killed. It’s simply an general illness versus a particular illness,” Trump mentioned Monday throughout a wide-ranging press convention in Florida.
“It was cold-blooded, only a cold-blooded, horrible killing,” he went on. “And the way individuals can like this man is — that’s a illness, really. That’s actually very dangerous. The best way it was carried out. It was so dangerous. Proper within the again. Very dangerous.”
Trump additionally prompt that a number of the gleeful on-line posts about Thompson’s dying may very well be faux, including that “it’s laborious to imagine that that would even be considered, but it surely appears there’s a sure urge for food for him. I don’t get it.”
Mangione, 26, has been charged with homicide in Thompson’s killing. He was arrested in Pennsylvania final week and stays in custody there. Police mentioned his fingerprints match prints that investigators discovered on a water bottle and a granola bar wrapper close to the scene of the taking pictures in Manhattan.
Mangione described his anger towards company America in a “manifesto” printed final week. Phrases etched on shell casings on the scene ― “deny,” “defend,” “depose” ― additionally echoed a phrase generally used to explain insurer techniques to keep away from paying claims.
Some individuals on-line have expressed assist for Mangione and glee over the dying of a high well being business CEO. Others condemned the killing however mentioned the business deserves the scorn and criticism, as a result of insurance coverage practices that prioritize income over individuals’s lives and well-being.
“All of that ache that individuals have skilled is being targeting this occasion,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told reporters final week. “It’s actually necessary that we take a step again, this isn’t to remark and this isn’t to say that an act of violence is justified, however I feel for anybody who’s confused or shocked or appalled, they should perceive that individuals interpret and really feel and expertise denied claims as an act of violence in opposition to them.”
