A 26-year-old Maryland man who allegedly assassinated the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York lived recently in Honolulu while working remotely as a data engineer.
Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, lived at 801 South St. from October 2022 until August of this year, working remotely as a data engineer for a tech company.
He was a yoga practitioner, hiker and big fan of the ocean.
He was not a licensed firearm owner, nor did he have a hunting license.
In a Dec. 22 post on X, he wrote that “7 years ago, I gave my senior speech on this topic: ‘Today, I will be talking to you about the future, about topics ranging from conscious artificial intelligence to human immortality. Likely, you’ll dismiss all this pretty quickly as interesting, but just science fiction.’”
The entry was above an image of how AI might lead us to either immortality or extinction.
On April 25 he commented on a post about mass extinction events by saying that when “the population gets dumber these systems break down which in turn means the population decreases,” he wrote.
Over on Goodreads, a book fan site, the Luigi Mangione account positively reviewed the work of another man with a penchant for manifestos: Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber.
“I see no logical reason why this follows,” Mangione wrote. “You underestimate the power of how a few intelligent people + robust systems can keep all the idiots afloat.”
Mangione was carrying a handwritten manifesto that “criticized health-care companies for putting profits above care” when he was arrested on gun charges, according to The New York Times.
“Know that whatever you hope to pursue in life will be drastically altered in the next few years. I’m not suggesting that everyone should become (a) computer scientist or (a) biomedical engineer, but that today’s careers may be drastically changed or even eliminated in 30 years,” he wrote, noting his enthusiasm for how AI could help people. “Be excited for what the future holds for us. We may have been born into one of the most exciting times on earth, regardless of the singularity. We might not recognize it in our day to day lives, but the world is changing fast.”
The man he allegedly killed, Brian Thompson, and his company were in the midst of legal wranglings over the use of artificial intelligence to decline or approve claims when some study suggested upward of 90% of some critical claims were denied.
In 2019, Mangione taught for three months at Stanford about artificial intelligence.
Mangione lived in Honolulu at Surfbreak in 2022 from January to June. The co-living, co-surfing community is the first “co-living and co-working penthouse for remote workers in Hawaii” and rents for $1,500 to $2,850 a month for stays ranging from two months to a year.
R.J. Martin, Surfbreak’s founder, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the allegations against Mangione are “devastating.”
“(It) feels like I lost a member, my brother,” Martin said. “I’m having a difficult time processing this.”
Martin described Mangione as a deep thinker who listened to people and truly heard what they had to say. The pair started a book club together.
“I loved this guy,” Martin said.
Mangione ghosted his Hawaii friends and family over the summer.
On Dec. 5, 2023, Mangione was arrested and charged by state Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officers for failing to “observe and abide by an officially posted sign authorized by the board or its authorized representative designating a closed area,” according to state court documents.
He pleaded no contest and paid a $100 fine.
That appears to be his only run-in with law enforcement in Hawaii.
“HPD does not have any reports involving an individual named Luigi Mangione,” HPD spokesperson Michelle Yu told the Star-Advertiser.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation referred comments to the New York Police Department.
Calls to Mangione’s family in Maryland were not immediately returned.
