In a shocking turn of events, a former high school classmate of Luigi Mangione, the man charged with the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been closely following the case. Freddie Leatherbury, who has known Mangione since the sixth grade, shared his perspective with NewsNation on Tuesday. It has been a difficult time as his high school is now in the national spotlight in a negative way since Mangione's arrest. Leatherbury emphasizes that those who know Mangione are still in shock. "My life since about 1 (p.m.) Eastern time yesterday has just been so surreal," he said.

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Mangione, a 26-year-old, was charged with several criminal offenses, including murder. He was denied bail and is set to face a preliminary hearing on Dec. 23. After Thompson was shot and killed on a Manhattan sidewalk last week, Mangione was arrested at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald's following a dayslong manhunt. Leatherbury was astounded when he saw the surveillance footage. "Nothing connected to me when I saw the surveillance footage," he said. "It's so impressive to me that the McDonald's worker, who had never seen this person in his life, picked him out of a crowd and said, 'I know that guy. He's the wanted guy.' That's crazy to me."The Altoona Police Department released a photo of a person of interest, Luigi Mangione, in his holding cell in connection to the fatal shooting. Leatherbury stated that he and Mangione weren't in the same social circles but were friendly. He remembers Luigi as being driven, smart, and athletic, describing him as everything one could want in a high school student.

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Leatherbury followed Mangione on social media and characterized him as an infrequent poster. He didn't notice any red flags indicating his potential for the crime with which he is charged. "It doesn't seem thinkable that this is the same person," Leatherbury added. "It just goes so against everything I knew about Luigi." He further emphasized that none of them could come up with any leads or any history of inclination to do anything like this.Leatherbury said that there isn't much "worth hearing" regarding Mangione, but his thoughts are focused on Thompson's family. He also mentioned that Mangione's family is grieving the loss of life they will have with Mangione. "So a lot of families are hurting right now," Leatherbury told NewsNation. "So I don't really need to know much more from Luigi, to be honest. I just want to know that they're at peace and comfortable with what's going on moving forward."