Luigi Mangione told Pennsylvania cop he was homeless before McDonald's arrest

Luigi Mangione seemed "nervous" and claimed he was homeless when a Pennsylvania police officer confronted him in a McDonald's restaurant last December, the law enforcement officer testified during a pretrial hearing Tuesday

Luigi Mangione seemed "nervous" and claimed he was homeless when a Pennsylvania police officer confronted him in a McDonald's restaurant last December, the law enforcement officer testified during a pretrial hearing Tuesday.

The tense encounter ultimately led to Mangione's arrest, capping off a five-day national manhunt. Mangione, 27, pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.

Altoona Police Officer Joseph Detwiler took the witness stand Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court as part of a complex hearing focused on Mangione's lawyers' bid to exclude evidence from his state murder trial. The proceedings could last at least a week.

Luigi Mangione appears for the second day of a suppression-of-evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.Curtis Means / Pool via Getty ImagesDetwiler told the court that he was the first officer to arrive at the McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024, after a dispatcher got a call from the restaurant manager. The officer walked up to a table where Mangione was eating.

"I knew it was him immediately" after Mangione removed the blue medical mask he had been wearing, Detwiler testified.