Police Say Suspect May Have 3D Printed Pistol Used to Assassinate Insurance CEO

The cops say it's an example of a "ghost gun."

Ghost Gun

Luigi Mangione, the suspect arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was reportedly carrying a black — and possibly 3D-printed — handgun along with a suppressor when he was brought into custody.

The pistol is considered by police to be a "ghost gun": a firearm that's assembled by the owner using parts sourced online, often from vendors that package them in do-it-yourself kits.

Their nature makes ghost guns almost impossible to trace. They have no serial numbers, and require no background checks.

In this case, it appears that the ghost gun that police say was found in Mangione's possession "may have been made on a 3D printer," said New York Police Department's chief of detectives Joe Kenney at a news conference Monday, per The Washington Post.

At this stage, it's unclear if Mangione printed the gun parts himself or bought it from a vendor that did. It also hasn't been established if the pistol is the same one used in the shooting of Thompson, though authorities contend that it was capable of firing the 9 mm rounds found at the scene.

Piece by Piece

Regulating ghost guns is a nightmare, as gun control for traditional firearms is already contentious in the US and regularly faces legal challenges. Using a 3D printer to fabricate guns and gun parts is generally legal, but that can vary from state to state, and also depends on the parts being made.

In states like New Jersey, assembling a 3D-printed gun is illegal without obtaining a federal license, and the sale of other forms of untraceable guns is also criminalized, according to The Trace. But nationwide, there are many 3D-printed gun kits sold online that remain legally above board.

These DIY kits often address a gun's lower receiver — which is essentially the frame of the gun — and is crucially the only gun part that requires federal background checks to buy from a licensed dealer, per The Trace.

Owners will often assemble the receivers, which are sometimes called "lowers" or "80 percent lowers" because they are sold 80 percent assembled — and then buy metal gun parts, like the barrel, that aren't as regulated.

The Biden administration introduced stronger regulations for gun kits requiring they come with serial numbers, but these have been challenged in court.

Medical Horror

Reports indicate that 26-year-old Mangione, who was arrested Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, was the valedictorian of his high school class and a graduate of University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a master's degree in computer science.

According to his friends and his social media posts, Mangione suffered from severe back pain following a surfing accident in 2022 that aggravated his spinal condition called spondylolisthesis, in which a vertebra slips out of alignment and presses onto the bone below, that had afflicted him since childhood.

Mangione underwent surgery to address the condition the following year — and it sounds like it may not have gone well. According to a friend of his when he was living in Hawaii, Mangione sent him an alarming looking scan of his spine following the procedure and when asked about how it went, simply replied that it was a "long story," The New York Times reported.

In the summer, friends and family say that Mangione dropped off the face of the Earth. What he's been up to in the six months since remains a mystery.

More on the CEO shooting: Suspected Insurance CEO Assassin Manifesto Starts to Trickle Out: "These Parasites Had It Coming"