Luigi Mangione’s startled reaction as McDonald’s workers IDed suspected assassin after 5 days on the run

Suspected killer Luigi Mangione was apparently shocked after McDonald’s employees recognized him after five days on the run.

Mangione, 26, was taken into custody Monday afternoon on gun charges at the fast-food restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after he allegedly shot and killed 50-year-old UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.

Sources told DailyMail.com that several staff members spotted the masked man, who was quietly reading after ordering a drink from the fast food restaurant.

One employee then called authorities after a customer also quietly told them he looked like the man authorities had been hunting for almost a week.

When police arrived, they found the suspect wearing a medical mask and looking at a silver laptop, with his backpack on the floor next to the table, according to charging documents.

He then gave officers a New Jersey driver’s license with the name Mark Rosario and date of birth July 21, 1998.

When an officer then asked him if he had been to New York recently, “he started shaking,” charging documents say.

Officers soon realized that the New Jersey driver’s license was fake, at which point an officer told him that he was under official police investigation and that if he lied about his identity, he would be arrested.

Upon hearing this, Mangione allegedly provided officers with his true identity, and when an officer asked why he lied about his name, the suspect allegedly replied, “I obviously shouldn’t have done that.”

Mangione ultimately calmly and quietly interacted with officers outside the McDonald’s, and staff members said their workday was minimally disrupted.

“We all just want to know why and how he ended up in our town because it doesn’t make any sense,” an employee told DailyMail.com.

“Not many visitors come here, it’s not a big city.”

The suspect is now charged with forgery, carrying firearms without a permit, tampering with documents or IDs, instruments of crime and false identification to law enforcement agencies.

He was denied bail on Monday evening and is expected to face further charges in the coming days for the outright murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Thompson was in the Big Apple to host UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor meeting, where he would explain the insurance company’s huge profits for the year.

Surveillance camera footage showed him walking outside a Hilton hotel in downtown Manhattan when he was shot by three bullets at close range.

It was later discovered that the shell casings had the words “deny,” “defend,” and “deposit” written on them, in an apparent attack on the practice of health insurance.

It is assumed Mangione was angry about the way health insurers treated a sick family member, the newspaper said New York Post.

No further details about that family member or their identity have been shared, although online obituaries show Mangione lost a grandmother in 2013 and a grandfather in 2017.

His X account also contains an X-ray of a complicated neck operation.

Mangione was also said to have been carrying a manifesto when he was arrested, which reportedly mentioned UnitedHealthcare by name, pointing out the company’s grandiose size and how much profit it makes.

The manifesto went on to condemn health insurers more broadly for putting profit above care, the Times reported.

The former valedictorian was also in possession of a 3D printed pistol and a black silencer, with police noting the pistol was loaded with a single Glock magazine containing six 9mm all-metal bullets.

A loose 9mm hollow point bullet was also found.

Altoona Police Department officers remained stationed at the restaurant Monday evening as surveillance footage captured the moment Mangione was arrested.

Authorities later confirmed that Mangione got off a Greyhound bus across from the McDonalds around 9 a.m. Monday morning after leading NYPD officers on a cross-country chase.

Staff at nearby restaurants say they were unaware that the killer had been apprehended just meters from their doors, and simply remembered that local police cars had been in the area.

Agents now believe Mangione had been in Pennsylvania for several days after Thompson’s December 4 killing, and may have previously spent time in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. according to the New York Times.

“We have an idea of ​​how he got from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, but there are some gaps in time,” Lt. Col. George Bivens said.

“And before we start putting together a timeline of his travels, we need to go through all that first.”

Mangione is now due back in court for a preliminary hearing on December 23.