Luigi Mangione Memes Erupt Across The Internet In Wake Of His Capture, Here's Why The Suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter Is Going Viral Online

Memes about Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspected assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, are the most viral posts on social media sites like Twitter / X, Reddit and TikTok at the moment.

Maybe it's his body, maybe it's his face or maybe it's the crime that he allegedly committed. No matter, internet users are largely fawning over him as they discover his accounts from Facebook to Goodreads, trying to get a glimpse into the "person of interest's" interests.

For some, the whole phenomenon is quite strange and difficult to comprehend. Let's try to explain why Luigi Mangione is such a viral topic and why memes about him are everywhere as of late.

Who Is Luigi Mangione?

Luigi Mangione is a 26-year-old from Towson, Maryland. He was his high school's valedictorian and went on to study Science in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn State) where he received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

In an interview with him from 2016, when he graduated at the top of his class at Baltimore's Gilman School, Mangione believed he had a future in engineering and computer science. At Penn, his studies focused on artificial intelligence and mathematics.

Mangione comes from a prominent Baltimore family known for owning country clubs, nursing homes and a radio station, according to local news outlets. One of his cousins, Nino Mangione, is a lawmaker in the area and even issued a statement on X signed by "The Mangione Family" following Luigi's reveal.

According to former classmates, Mangione "had everything going for him." Shock was the primary emotion expressed by those closest to him.




Why Is Luigi Mangione A Meme?

On December 4th, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in Midtown, Manhattan. The event quickly became the talk of social media where laymen, with their own gripes concerning the American healthcare industry, largely celebrated the crime.

"If all health insurance CEOs live in fear of being murdered maybe premiums will come down," one X user wrote. "I’d offer my thoughts and prayers but that requires prior authorization," said another meme creator, parodying the lingo of healthcare reps.

When images of the shooter finally surfaced online, seen at a Starbucks on the morning of the incident, netizens could finally put a masked face to the "Robin Hood" figure they were championing. "There's a real chance he's hot," one person said.

Images of the suspect, alleged to be the same person, were later released by the New York Police Department (NYPD) from a hostel in the Upper West Side. Seen smiling, the man in question was, ultimately, perceived by many to be attractive, adding to the thirst online. "He's got that hung smile," said one user.

On Monday, Luigi Mangione was detained at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania as the main suspect in the murder of Brian Thompson. Quickly, scores of people scoured the web for his social media profiles that confirmed their hunch was right.

A shirtless photo of him showing off his muscled body spread online. "I stand with the assassin," one user quipped when posting it.

Besides his appearance, people were fascinated by Mangione's unique digital footprint. People were hoping for a clear-cut answer on his political allegiances, hoping it would shed some light on his motive if he was the true killer.

It was surprising to many that Mangione was reposting pro-Elon Musk and Peter Thiel tweets while also condemning the Great Replacement Theory. How could he be following both RFK Jr. and AOC? The contradictions were numerous.

Although many wanted to "claim" Mangione, others believed that his bi-partisan beliefs were a strength, not a weakness. "The shooter being vaguely right wing should be a leftist cause for celebration," one person wrote, "as it might indicate that opposing a system in which a company decides, based mostly on your job, whether you live or die from an illness is finally becoming a human issue rather than a partisan issue."

Before the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brain Thompson, there have been other events in which billionaires or the uber-rich meet an untimely demise and the whole timeline seems to celebrate it. The one that comes immediately to mind is the OceanGate Titanic Submarine Incident when four very wealthy individuals died at the bottom of the ocean because they each paid roughly $250,000.

To many, the event was a moment in which the excesses of the rich were the direct cause of their downfall. In both scenarios mentioned, people believed that it was a comeuppance.

For Brian Thompson's death, the celebration of the suspected Mangione was indicative of a widely held grudge against privatized healthcare in America.

Why Do People Think Luigi Mangione Might Be Innocent?

There is also a growing conspiracy theory that Luigi Mangione is not the shooter. The idea is fueled by images comparing Mangione's eyebrows to the ones on the Starbucks suspect's face, among other details of the incident supposedly not adding up to skeptics.

It's hard to say with any certainty that Mangione is the person in all of the photos released by the NYPD thus far. Using Occam's razor though, it's damning that Mangione was reportedly found with a manifesto, a fake ID and a "ghost gun," all related to pieces of the investigation.

Only time will tell if Mangione is actually the killer. For now, people are awaiting the upcoming trial and additional details from authorities surrounding the high-profile case.

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For the full history of Luigi Mangione Suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.