In the days since Luigi Mangione was charged with murder for gunning down a top health insurance executive, more than a thousand donations have poured into an online fundraiser for his legal defense, with messages supporting him and even celebrating the crime. In New York, "Wanted" posters with the faces of CEOs have appeared on walls. Websites are selling Mangione merchandise, including hats with "CEO Hunter" printed across a bullseye. Social media users are also swooning over him, Reuters reports. Mangione has been charged with murder for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen shooting on Dec. 4 outside a Manhattan hotel before an industry conference, setting off a five-day manhunt for the masked assailant. The crime he is accused of has been broadly condemned, but the Ivy League educated, photogenic 26-year-old has become an unsettling mixture of folk hero, celebrity, and online crush in certain circles. His support has only seemingly intensified since his arrest on Monday.
Most of the messages on the crowd-sourced fundraising site GiveSendGo reflect a deep frustration shared by many Americans over the U.S. healthcare system - where some treatments and reimbursements can be denied to patients depending on their insurance coverage - as well as broader anger over rising income inequality and soaring executive pay. More than $31,000 had been raised as of Wednesday on GiveSendGo alone. Felipe Rodriguez, a former NYPD detective sergeant, expressed dismay at the reaction. "They've made him a martyr for all the troubles people have had with their own insurance companies," said Rodriguez, now an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "I mean, who hasn't had run-ins with their insurance? But he's a stone-cold killer." Mangione is being held in Pennsylvania on gun and forgery charges while prosecutors in New York seek his extradition.
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