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Suspect Luigi Mangione critical of social media, AI

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Mangione has Ivy League education, no criminal record

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Online posts praise Unabomber, criticize technology and

corporations

By Andrew Hay

Dec 9 (Reuters) - An X-ray image appears to show screws

and plates inserted in a lower back. Social media commentary

praises the Unabomber and criticizes the use of smartphones by

children.

Such posts by a Luigi Mangione, the name New York police have

announced as the 26-year-old suspect in last week's killing of a

health insurance executive in New York, portray an Ivy League

graduate who had grown critical of social media and artificial

intelligence.

Here is what is known about Mangione:

WHAT POLICE SAY

Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, went to college in

Pennsylvania and is thought to have had "ill will toward

corporate America" based on a document found on him, according

to Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York police.

Mangione has ties to San Francisco, lived in Honolulu until

recently and is believed to have acted on his own, Kenny said.

He has no known criminal record in New York, Kenny said.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

A person with the same name was the 2016 valedictorian of the

private, all-boys Gilman School in Baltimore. The school did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

The New York Times reported Gilman sent an email on Monday

to alumni in which principal Henry Smyth said, "This is deeply

distressing news on top of an already awful situation."

The University of Pennsylvania said a person named Luigi

Mangione graduated in 2020 with a master of science in

engineering, majoring in computer and information science.

Stanford University said a person by the same name was employed

as a head counselor under the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies

program between May and September of 2019.

ONLINE PRESENCE

A Facebook profile for a Luigi Mangione identifies him as being

from Towson, Maryland. Local media said his family owned a

country club and radio station in the Baltimore area and his

cousin was Maryland House of Delegates member Nino Mangione. The

legislator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A banner on a Mangione's X page, which says he lives in

Honolulu, includes an X-ray image of what appears to be screws

and plates inserted into someone's lower back.

X posts from two years ago include critiques of artificial

intelligence, reposts of commentaries against diversity, equity

and inclusion programs, and remarks on how smartphones harm

children and the damage caused by commercial agriculture.

A 2022 post discusses his senior high school speech on topics

ranging from AI to human immortality. The posts seem to question

some of the technology Mangione appeared in awe of in high

school.

On Goodreads, a Luigi Mangione praises Unabomber Ted

Kaczynski's book "Industrial Society and Its Future" as

"prescient" about modern society.

Calling Kaczynski an "extreme political revolutionary," the

poster quotes another online commentator's observation of the

Unabomber that "when all other forms of communication fail,

violence is necessary to survive." The post also criticized

fossil fuel companies, saying "violence against those who lead

us to such destruction is justified as self-defense."