The three-page manifesto carried by Mangione during his arrest named UnitedHealthcare and criticized the entire U.S. healthcare industry for prioritizing profits over people. Law enforcement officers revealed that this manifesto, which has not been made public yet, contained lines such as "To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone" and "I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming." An internal NYPD report obtained by the Times also stated that Mangione, when describing the greed of health insurers, referred to himself as the "first to face it with such brutal honesty."

How the Internet Reacted to the UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting

Positive Reactions to the Shooter and Internet Jokes

In the hours and days following Thompson's death, a distinct pattern emerged in online opinions. A majority consensus took shape within a few hours. There were memes making fun of inhumane healthcare industry practices, like the one documented by Know Your Meme where an X user shared the news of the shooting with the quip "he was already CEO when he was shot, pre existing condition. claim denied." There were also celebrations of Mangione's attractiveness and jabs at the NYPD's response and refusals to help find the shooter from true crime TikTokers. On Reddit, users shared links and promo codes to help each other buy the shooter's alleged jacket, and hundreds of purchases were made within 48 hours. The prevailing attitude behind this internet frenzy was that the shooter was an "anti-hero for our times" and that the healthcare industry had it coming. A review by the Network Contagion Research Institute found that of the top 10 most-engaged X posts about the shooting on Wednesday, more than half "either expressed explicit or implicit support" for the act.

Condemnations of the Positive Reactions

In response to the increasing number of jokes and the shooter being treated as "low-key hot" and an "internet sensation," legacy media outlet pundits expressed their views. Many takes referred to the positive reception as "disturbing," "ugly," and "un-American." There was an underlying theme in these opinions that the public's response to Thompson's death was "unexpected."