Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was at the center of a bizarre security incident Wednesday night after federal authorities say a Minnesota man tried to force his release from a New York jail by posing as an FBI agent.
According to a newly filed criminal complaint, 36-year-old Mark Anderson of Mankato, Minnesota, arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn claiming he was a federal agent acting under a court order. Prosecutors say Anderson told staff that a judge had authorized Mangione’s immediate release. Mangione is currently being held at the facility without bail.
Bureau of Prisons officers grew suspicious and asked Anderson to provide official credentials. Instead, authorities say he produced a Minnesota driver’s license. Anderson also allegedly warned officers that he was carrying weapons in a bag he brought with him.
That bag, according to the complaint, contained a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade that resembled a pizza cutter. An FBI agent who reviewed the incident wrote that Anderson “also displayed and threw at the BOP officers numerous documents.” The agent added, “I have reviewed those papers, and they appear to be related tothe filing of claims against the United States Department of Justice.”
Anderson was detained at the scene and later charged with impersonating an FBI agent. He was scheduled to make his initial appearance Thursday afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Although the complaint does not name the inmate Anderson allegedly intended to free, a law enforcement official confirmed it was Mangione, who is 27 years old. That official also said Anderson had recently traveled to New York City for a job opportunity that did not materialize and had been working at a pizzeria.
The arrest unfolded the same day Manhattan prosecutors urged a judge to schedule Mangione’s state murder trial for July. Mangione faces both state and federal charges tied to the December 4, 2024, fatal shooting of Brian Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel during a UnitedHealth Group investor event.
Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and has pleaded not guilty in both cases. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and a judge is expected to decide soon whether that option will remain in play.
