Mangione Backpack Search Needed No Warrant, Officer Says

Luigi Mangione, center, during a pretrial hearing at New York State Supreme Court on Dec. 11.Photographer: Jefferson Siegel/The New York Times/Bloomberg

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By Patricia Hurtado and David Voreacos

December 11, 2025 at 7:13 PM UTC

Updated on

December 11, 2025 at 9:23 PM UTC

The police officer overseeing the Pennsylvania arrest of Luigi Mangione testified that his officers did not need a warrant to search a backpack that allegedly ties him to the murder of a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive.

Lt. William Hanelly of the Altoona Police Department said Thursday that officers properly arrested Mangione and searched his bag at a McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024. Customers at the restaurant recognized him as the suspect in the shooting of Brian Thompson five days earlier.