New York City officials wanted to send a message Thursday by escorting Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, from a helipad after he was extradited to Manhattan.
But social media users, criticized for heroing Mangione, apparently found a different message. His flanked arrival led to an image described by one viral post as a “late contender for the most difficult image of the year.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams and law enforcement officers followed Mangione – the subject of thirsty tweetsA lookalike contest And other marching band – in a so-called “perpetrator walkingbefore being taken to a federal courthouse in the city.
Mangione was flown to New York after waiving his right to an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania, the state where he was arrested following a multi-day search that ended at a McDonald’s.
Mangione appeared in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs as officers surrounded him during an “actual walk” that, according to CNN’s senior justice correspondent Evan Pérez, is usually avoided because such a step is “considered prejudicial.”
John Miller, a former deputy commissioner at the New York City Police Department and chief law enforcement analyst for CNN, attributed the unusual arrival to “the public support” for Mangione and security concerns over whether anyone “might try to kill him.” to free from law enforcement. ”
Adams— in remarks to reporters outside the helipad used by presidents and top business executives — said he and New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch wanted to send a “very clear, loud message” against the city’s violence to show “the symbolism of leading from the front.”
The New York Police Department also shared its own photos of Mangione being led onto an airplane And followed by officersincluding some armed with guns.
The action by New York officials appeared to set off a new round of social media users who heroed Mangione, including those who did drew an eerie comparison between the so-called “perp walk” and a scene from James Gunn’s upcoming “Superman” film, a teaser trailer which was released on Thursday.
“By the way, he would have killed one (1) man,” read an X-post with 237,000 likes next to a photo of Mangione’s arrival taken by Michael Nagle for Bloomberg.
We need your support
Support JS
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“without exaggeration, this is real contemporary art,” wrote one X user.
“Why do they accidentally make him look like the coolest person in the world? They don’t want us to hate him,” wrote another user in a post with 38,000 likes.
The fatal shooting of Thompson has sparked conversations in recent weeks about Americans’ frustration with the health insurance industry, as lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have all spoken out on this issue.