ALTOONA, Pa. — Luigi Mangione was defiant as he was marched into the Blair County courthouse for his extradition hearing just hours after the state of New York filed second-degree murder charges against him in connection with last Wednesday's murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan.
Mangione, through his attorney, declined to waive extradition, and his defense will have 15 days to file a motion with the court.
He also faces weapons and forgery charges here in Pennsylvania as a result of his arrest Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona.
An unlikely end after five days on the run that authorities say took him from New York to Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and finally to a booth inside this fast food restaurant where he was confronted by Altoona police.
"He asked the suspect if he'd been in NYC recently, and that really invoked a physical reaction from the suspect," said Deputy Chief Derek Swope, Altoona Police Department.
"I was just shocked, honestly, that such a big thing, or this magnitude, could happen in such a small area," said Adam, a PSU Altoona student.
Adam is a student at Penn State's Altoona Campus who hails from the New York City metropolitan area.
He tells Newswatch 16 that his friends and family back home are shocked the alleged killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was arrested in Blair County, Pennsylvania, more than 230 miles from New York City.
But even though Luigi Mangione is being held by authorities far away from where the crime took place, the alleged crime was front and center, even in Altoona.
Just hours after Mangione's arrest, this woman paraded back and forth in front of the McDonald's where he was caught, displaying a sign that read, 'Corrupt insurance CEOs have got to go.' She didn't want to speak to NewsWatch 16 but identified herself as a nurse.
Reportedly, the words 'deny, defend, and depose' were scrawled on the bullets used to kill Thompson, echoing a phrase long used by critics of the insurance industry.
Across social media, some are hailing Mangione as a hero, a notion Governor Josh Shapiro wanted to immediately dispel.
"This person, the suspect here who shot and killed that CEO, is a coward, not a hero. And we need to get back in this country to having a civil discourse about our differences," said Gov. Shapiro.