The arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione on the charge of murdering a healthcare CEO ends the hunt for the mystery man with a hoodie. But what it doesn’t solve is the mystery of why an intelligent, well-liked young man who had much to live for would allegedly shoot a stranger in the back on a New York street.
One possible explanation is that he had some kind of mental break, as many young men do in their 20s.
The facts of his life in recent years are coming fast and perhaps too furious to trust on the fly. But it appears that a back injury, followed by surgery, had left him in pain and frustrated. He had become isolated from family and long-time friends.
As many young men also do, he trafficked in theories of exploitation and blame that dominate corners of the internet.
He saw wisdom, not madness, in the writings of Ted Kaczynski, the notorious “Unabomber.” The manifesto that Mr. Mangione allegedly wrote, and that authorities say they found upon his arrest, railed against the U.S. healthcare system.
Perhaps he saw himself as an avenging hero who would take on that system. This is a common trait of young men — and they are mostly young and men — who justify violence with the perverse logic of a cause. It doesn’t take much for a disturbed individual to pick up the populist theme of blaming seemingly distant and faceless corporations for social ills and flipping a mental switch into murder. Internet sites and podcasts on the right and left often marinate in these resentments.
Yet the man Mr. Mangione shot was neither faceless nor distant. He was Brian Thompson, a married father of two who was walking to a business meeting several feet away from the shooter. He was doing what his company, UnitedHealthcare, and its shareholders asked him to do. He was, like the unabomber’s targets, innocent.
It’s a dreadful sign of the times that Mr. Mangione is being celebrated in too many places as a worthy avenger instead of an (allegedly) deranged killer.
But that is how our culture has degraded — egged on for political purposes or audience ratings by many who know better.
Brian Thompson’s sons will never see him again.
Mr. Mangione faces a murder charge in New York that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. Anyone who sees that as anything other than a tragedy deserves the scorn that we hope they receive.
