Luigi Mangione pumped his fist in court on Monday as body-camera footage allegedly showed officers finding a loaded magazine tucked inside wet underwear in the suspect’s backpack. The video was aired during day 5 of the hearings at Manhattan Criminal Court to decide whether some evidence should be excluded from his trial.Mangione is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. He returned to court on Monday morning for the suppression hearing.Body-camera footage showed Altoona, Pennsylvania, Police Officer Christy Wasser searching Mangione’s backpack at the time of his arrest and discovering a magazine with bullets wrapped in wet underwear. “There was another magazine hidden in his underwear,” Wasser can be heard saying, Fox News reported.As Wasser held up the magazine, someone off camera said “it’s fu****g him.” Wasser testified that she had gone to the McDonald’s in Altoona on her own to assist Officer Joseph Detwiler. She began searching the bag after Mangione was placed under arrest and invoked his right to remain silent when officers asked if there was anything inside that they should be worried about. Wasser said that his silence heightened her concern and led her to search for a bomb, although she did not order restaurant staff or patrons out of the area.Her search uncovered the magazine, and she said she was then instructed to finish and return to the station. She told the court that two fellow officers debated whether a warrant was needed or if probable cause existed to continue the search.Mangione was arrested at the McDonald’s on December 9-2024 after an employee recognised him and alerted police. He faces multiple state and federal charges related to the alleged murder.His lawyers are asking the judge to suppress evidence taken from his backpack and statements he made to police at the time of arrest. They argued Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerns, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures and ensure the right to due process. Prosecutors contend that the warrantless search was lawful and that Mangione’s only un-Mirandized statement was giving officers a fake name.Last week, prosecutors released the 911 call that led to Mangione’s arrest. “I’m a manager at Plank Road McDonald’s out here on the boulevard,” a manager told the dispatcher. “And I have a customer here, that some other customers were suspicious of, that he looks like the CEO shooter from New York.”
