The Ivy League grad accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson reportedly detailed his health woes, including debilitating back pain and “brain fog,” in a series of Reddit posts in the years leading up to last week’s high-profile assassination.
Luigi Mangione, 26, wrote online that his back pain started out as a minor problem, but got notably worse after he went surfing and then weeks later slipped on a piece of paper in 2022, the New York Times reported.
He reportedly said on Reddit that he had searing pain when he sat down, along with numbness in his bladder and groin, and twitching in his legs.
He also dealt with Lyme disease and “brain fog” that became more pronounced while he attended the University of Pennsylvania, according to his Reddit posts reported on CNN.
“It’s absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue … The people around you probably won’t understand your symptoms — they certainly don’t for me,” he reportedly wrote.
Additionally, he talked about undergoing testing for irritable bowel syndrome — and made a reference to health insurance when he said it was covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, the New York Times reported.
He also encouraged others to have a spinal fusion surgery in July 2023 that he claimed allowed him to walk pain-free without medications.
“The surgery wasn’t nearly as scary as I made it out to be in my head, and I knew it was the right decision within a week,” he wrote, per the Times.
Mangione’s writings have faced intense scrutiny in the past 24 hours as authorities attempt to sort out a possible motive for the cold-blooded murder of Thompson last Wednesday in Midtown Manhattan.
The brazen murder has raised furor toward the health insurance industry, with some outrageously lauding the suspected shooter, including even a look-alike contest that took place in the Big Apple over the weekend.
He returned to Hawaii after his back surgery, but stopped talking with many friends and family by the spring of this year, according to the Times.
Mangione also talked in a community that “promotes urban travel with the philosophy of carrying less” that discusses different travel gear and participated in a subreddit focused on gaming subculture and a festival in Maryland where he grew up as part of a privileged family.
Pokemon Go was one of the games he discussed.
The Reddit account was scrubbed by the company, which is a step the company will take if it’s possibly connected to a well-known criminal investigation, a spokesperson told the Times.
Mangione is facing murder charges and is in custody in Pennsylvania after he was arrested at a McDonald’s in the state on Monday.