The Pennsylvania McDonald’s employee whose 911 call led to the arrest of accused killer Luigi Mangione is unlikely to see reward money any time soon.
The FBI and NYPD Crime Stoppers had offered up to $60,000 for tips leading to the apprehension of the suspect in the shooting of insurance company CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in Midtown in the early morning of Dec. 4.
In the days following the murder, authorities said they received more than 400 tips, 30 of them useful in tracking Mangione’s movements before and after the shooting. But no tip was more important than the call investigators got from an unidentified employee at a McDonald’s in Altoona, where Mangione was apprehended Monday.
Officials are still trying to determine which tipsters are eligible for reward money and how much cash their clues were worth. According to authorities, local and federal rewards programs have leeway to split a reward between tips or consider each for the maximum amount.
The bulk of the reward money for Mangione’s capture was put up by the FBI, which offered $50,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Crime Stoppers, funded by the New York City Police Foundation and the NYPD’s Detective Bureau, initially offered $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment. The bureau later upped that windfall to $10,000 should the suspect be convicted.
While the FBI and Crime Stoppers have boards to determine how reward money is distributed, that process could take significant time, especially given the conviction requirements. Mangione remains in Pennsylvania where he’s fighting extradition to New York City for a murder trial that’s not yet been scheduled.
Any rewards could also be less than the full amount offered, as the boards consider the significance each of the tips played in the outcome of the case. It’s unlikely every tipster would receive the highest amount offered, and any money distributed can generally be taxed.
While Thompson’s murder shocked many who viewed surveillance video of the masked gunman shooting him from behind, sentiment became a little more clouded after the public learned the executive was paid more than $10 million in 2023 for heading UnitedHealthcare, a company that sometimes denies coverage to individuals with heavy medical expenses.
Police in Altoona reportedly received threats in the wake of the arrest and increased security at the McDonald’s where Mangione was found. Commenters on the police department’s Facebook page hailed the suspect a “hero” while berating those responsible for bringing him to justice.
“Whoever works at McDonald’s who did this, I hope karma comes full circle,” one person wrote.
Mangione kept a notebook seemingly expressing his intentions to target a health care insurance executive.
“What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” he wrote, according to the New York Times. “It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.”
Thompson, a father of two from Minnesota, was shot outside his company’s annual shareholders meeting.
With News Wire Services
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