New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday once again spoke about his strongly encouraged suggestion for businesses to have people lower their face masks following the arrest of Luigi Mangione in connection with the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thompson, 50, was killed during an apparent premeditated ambush in the early hours of December 4 in midtown Manhattan as he headed to the company’s annual investor conference. The gunman was wearing a medical mask during the time of Thompson’s shooting.
What Adams Is Saying
During a press conference on Monday, Adams and other New York City officials spoke about the arrest of Mangione, and the mayor was asked about past calls he has made for businesses to tell customers to remove their masks before entering.
“We called to say when you go into businesses and establishment, ask people to temporarily remove their mask. We could, we can close these cases in hours when everyone will cooperate and just say temporarily pull down your mask,” Adams said. “You don’t have to permanently take it off. But once you get that video, once you get that picture.”
The mayor added, “And we’re going to ask our Uber, Lyft, taxis, all of them to act the same. You get inside someone’s taxi, someone’s cab, someone’s for hire vehicle, you should have that person pull down their mask so you can see who they are.”
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“And many of our vehicles have cameras inside that would assist us greatly to apprehend the person involved and send the information across the country,” Adams said.” And so I will continue to advocate a very smart, simple way of having a great tool for, for law enforcement. And we want to continue to do that.”
Mask mandates were put into place in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many people in the city still wear protective coverings on their faces inside places of business.
Last year, Adams said members of the public should lower their face masks when they enter businesses.
“We are putting out a clear call to all of our shops: Do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face mask,” Adams said during an interview with the radio station 1010 WINS.
In June of this year, Adams said he was a strong supporter of a proposal from New York Governor Kathy Hochul to ban face masks at protests and on the city’s subways, sparking backlash across social media.
Luigi Mangione Arrest
On Monday, 26-year-old Mangione was arrested in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after an employee recognized him as the potential gunman, the NYPD said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny later said during a press conference that a ghost gun—a type of untraceable firearm with components that can be printed and assembled at home—was discovered in Mangione’s possession at the time of his arrest.
“He was in possession of a ghost gun that had the capability of firing a 9 mm round and a suppressor,” Kenny said. “It may have been made on a 3D printer [with] the capability of firing a 9 mm round. Obviously, that will come out during our ballistics testing.”
He has only been named a person of interest, not a suspect, and has not been charged with Thompson’s death. He is being held and questioned on local charges, and NYPD officers are traveling to Altoona, about 250 miles away from the scene of the crime.
A representative for UnitedHealthcare told Newsweek: “Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy. We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation. We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn.”
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
