One year ago today, the manager of a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, reluctantly called 911 at the urging of perceptive and perturbed customers.
“What’s the address of your emergency?” the dispatch operator asked when she answered the 9:14 a.m. call.
“It’s not really an emergency,” the manager said immediately before introducing herself.
“I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of – that he looks like the CEO shooter from New York,” she said with a little chuckle.
“OK,” the operator responded dubiously.
“They’re just really upset and they’re coming to me and I was like, ‘Well, I can’t approach him,’” the manager said.
She described the man, who was sitting alone in the back of the fast-food restaurant. He was wearing a black jacket, a medical mask and a tan beanie.
“He has his beanie pulled down, so the only thing you can see is his eyebrows,” she explained. “I tried to Google it to try to calm them down a bit, and I’m like, ‘Guys, it’s kind of hard to tell with his eyes and his eyebrows.’”
“All right, honey, I do have an officer on the way for you,” the operator said, after she gathered more details.
It turns out those eyebrows famously belonged to Luigi Mangione, whose arrest on December 9, 2024, ended a five-day manhunt after the fatal shooting of a healthcare CEO in midtown Manhattan.
A year later, video shown during a days-long suppression hearing in New York state court has given the public an inside look at how the arrest unfolded inside a McDonald’s in central Pennsylvania.
The brazen attack on Brian Thompson, 50, on a busy Manhattan sidewalk generated a national debate, with Mangione’s case becoming an outlet for larger frustrations with America’s health care industry.
Mangione is charged with second-degree murder and eight other counts in state court. He is also facing a separate federal prosecution where the death penalty is on the table. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
His defense team is trying to get key evidence tossed from both cases, arguing some items were seized during an illegal search and he was not properly given his Miranda warnings. Once the multi-day hearing is complete, Judge Gregory Carro will decide whether the disputed evidence will stay in the case.
The evidence shown in court has included 911 calls, dispatch radio, McDonald’s surveillance video and footage from the body-worn cameras of responding police officers. Several witnesses – including responding officers – have also taken the stand, providing more details about how the arrest transpired.
Altoona Police Officer Joseph Detwiler was showing rookie cop Tyler Frye how to run traffic stops when he received a dispatch call asking him to swing by the McDonald’s.
“Got a call from the manager there. Customers came to her, said there’s a male in the store that looks like the NYC shooter,” the dispatcher said over the radio around 9:16 a.m.
“10-4. We’ll be on that,” Detwiler replied dryly.
“I was being semi-sarcastic when I said that,” he explained in court. “I did not think it would be the person they thought it was.”
His boss, Lt. Tom Hanelly, texted him promising to buy him a hoagie from a local restaurant if he caught the shooter.
“Consider it done,” Detwiler responded, according to his testimony.
Detwiler had been keeping up with coverage of the shooting on Fox News, so he had seen the video of the attack and several photos of the suspect. He knew the gun used in the shooting had not yet been found.
But, still, he and Frye testified they didn’t activate the lights and sirens on their police cruiser as they drove over to the restaurant, or come up with a plan for how to handle the situation once they arrived.
“I didn’t think it was going to be him,” Detwiler testified.
Footage from the two officers’ body-worn cameras show them entering the fast-food restaurant around 9:29 a.m. and immediately walking toward the back lobby. There was a man sitting alone at a table in the corner, with a brown paper bag and a plastic bag on the table in front of him. He matched the description they were given – wearing a black jacket, a tan beanie and a medical mask.
“Pull down your mask real quick for me,” Detwiler said as he approached the table.
The man complied, pulling the blue medical mask below his chin to show his face.
“I knew it was him immediately,” Detwiler testified in court, adding that he then realized their safety could be at risk.
But at the McDonald’s, the officer didn’t noticeably react. Detwiler asked the man’s name, and he responded that it was Mark Rosario.
“Someone called and thought you were suspicious,” Detwiler told him. “Do you have your ID on you?”
Frye briefly walked away from the table to run the man’s driver’s license information with dispatch. The ID was from New Jersey and bore the name Mark Rosario, the police officer testified.
“So, where you from?” Detwiler asked.
“New Jersey,” the man said.
“Were you up in New York recently?” the officer asked.
The man’s response is muffled on the bodycam footage. Detwiler testified that he thought the man said, “Yes.”
“What were you doing up in New York?” the officer asked.
When Frye returned to the table, Detwiler told the man to stand up and put his hands on top of his head. He patted down the outside of the man’s puffy black jacket for about 15 seconds.
“You seem a little nervous right now,” the officer said. “Why are you nervous?”
The man didn’t respond and sat back down once Detwiler was finished frisking him.
“You want to talk to him for a second?” Detwiler asked his fellow officer, who moved closer to the man.
Detwiler then stepped outside the restaurant, leaving Frye – who had only been on the squad for a few months – alone with the man.
The man was sitting at the table with his arms crossed and his medical mask dangling from one ear. An unwrapped breakfast sandwich sat on the table in front of him. His black backpack lay on the ground near Frye’s feet, the officer testified.
“So, what’s going on, man?” Frye asked. “What brings you up here from New Jersey?”
The man mumbled something inaudible on the footage. A few moments later, he asked what was going on.
“We got a call here saying you were suspicious, or something like that,” Frye said.
The man responded that he was just trying to use the Wi-Fi.
“I’m not saying you’re doing anything wrong,” the officer said. “I’m just saying we got a call here.”
Meanwhile, outside the McDonald’s, Detwiler called Hanelly – his boss who had joked about the hoagie – to ask him to come to the restaurant.
“He’s here, Tom. It’s him. I’m not kidding,” Detwiler told Hanelly over the phone. “He’s real nervous and he’s not talking too much. I asked if he had been up in New York recently. Tom, I’m 100% sure it’s him.”
After hanging up the phone, Detwiler walked back inside the restaurant and over to the man at the table.
“Mark, you’re from Jersey? What are you doing in Altoona? Visiting family?” Detwiler asked.
Before the man could answer, the officers started discussing the license information briefly.
“Visiting family around here?” Detwiler asked him again.
“No, I’m homeless,” the man said.
“You’re homeless,” Detwiler repeated. “Been up in New York at all lately?”
The man slightly shook his head no.
“We’re just trying to confirm your identity and we’ll get out of here,” Detwiler told him.
The man sat at the table in silence for a few moments as the two officers stood near him, one beside him and the other across the table.
“How long you been here?” Detwiler asked.
The man checked his receipt, glanced at his watch, and then responded, “40 minutes.”
The song “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” played loudly through the restaurant.
He knows if you’ve been bad or good…
“I think they have a policy here,” Detwiler said. “You’re here too long, and they call us.”
The officer testified he falsely told the man that to buy some time before Hanelly arrived.
For the next few minutes, the three men were largely silent. The man picked up his hash brown and started eating it while Detwiler stared at the driver’s license in his hand.
Detwiler made a few casual comments that he testified were intended to make things seem normal and keep the man calm. The man gave short responses while still chewing on his hash brown.
“That the steak?” Detwiler asked when the man took his first bite of a breakfast sandwich. “That’s my favorite.”
At one point, the man asked the officers, “What should I do next time?”
“Just maybe not stay as long,” Detwiler suggested.
The man continued eating his sandwich in silence as “Jingle Bell Rock” began playing over the speakers.
What a bright time it’s the right time to rock the night away…
Detwiler whistled along to the song while the man remained seated, chewing on his food.
A couple minutes later, around 9:41 a.m., Hanelly strode into the restaurant, grabbed the New Jersey ID from Detwiler, and quickly walked away.
Detwiler then stepped closer to the man at the table, moving the backpack farther away on the ground, and positioning himself in-between the man and his bag.
Mix and mingle in a jingling beat…
The man finished the last bites of his sandwich, wiped his fingers and mouth with a napkin, and put the trash inside the paper McDonald’s bag. He then folded his arms again.
Other officers arrived at the restaurant shortly after. Detwiler called one of them, Officer Samuel McCoy, over to stand near the table so he could speak to other officials outside the restaurant.
“I’m 100% sure it’s him,” Detwiler told Hanelly and another officer outside as they searched for photos of the shooting suspect on their phone. “Pull up a better one. There’s better ones than that.”
Inside the restaurant, McCoy moved the backpack and a laptop on top of a nearby table after the man confirmed they were his. “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” played again over the restaurant loudspeakers.
“Do you know what all this nonsense is about?” McCoy asked.
“We’re going to find out, I guess,” the man responded.
When Detwiler and the other officers re-entered the McDonalds around 9:45 a.m., there were about eight officers standing around the room. The man was still sitting at the table in the corner with his arms crossed, as “Sleigh Ride” played over the loudspeakers.
Detwiler walked over to the table and leaned on the back of a chair.
“You’re under official police investigation right now,” the officer said. “If you give a false name to us again, you’ll be arrested for false ID.”
The man nodded slowly and then confirmed that his name was not Mark Rosario.
“What’s your real name?” Detwiler asked.
The man hesitated and then said, “Luigi.”
“Luigi?” Detwiler repeated.
“Mangione,” the man said.
As police were confirming his information, one of the officers asked Mangione why he lied about his name.
“I clearly shouldn’t have,” Mangione responded.
“Why did you lie?” Frye asked.
“That was the ID I had in my wallet,” the man responded.
The Stevie Wonder song “Everyone’s a Kid at Christmas” started playing loudly over the speakers.
Officer Stephen Fox read Mangione, who was still sitting with his arms crossed, his Miranda rights. When the officer was finished, Mangione confirmed that he understood.
“You want to talk to us?” Fox asked. “You’re not in custody at this point.”
Mangione shook his head no.
At Fox’s direction, Mangione stood up and placed his hands on the wall as the officer began to frisk him. He told the police officer he had a jar of peanut butter and a pocketknife on him.
Fox pulled Mangione’s arms behind his back, handcuffed him, and removed the pocketknife. The opening lyrics to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” sounded over the loudspeaker as the shackles were placed on his wrists.
For the next few minutes, Mangione stood near the wall with his hands cuffed behind his back, shifting his weight from side to side. His beanie, mask and trash from his meal were strewn on the table beside him.
At one point, an official walked over and snapped a picture of Mangione on his cell phone. More officers arrived on the scene, with some standing near Mangione and others near the exit.
“Can I ask why there’s so many cops here?” Mangione asked.
“Just trying to figure it out,” McCoy responded before cleaning up some trash from the table.
Around 9:58 a.m., a handful of officers walked toward Mangione, who was still standing with his hands cuffed behind his back. Hanelly, who had been conferring with local prosecutors, had made the decision to arrest Mangione on charges related to the fake ID, Detwiler testified.
“Winter Wonderland” played over the restaurant speakers as Fox approached Mangione.
Gone away is the bluebird, here to stay is a new bird…
“Anything in that bag we need to know about?” Fox asked him.
Mangione responded that he was choosing to remain silent.
Detwiler and Frye then started going through Mangione’s pockets while Fox and another officer searched his backpack on a nearby table.
Fox and Officer Christy Wasser opened the backpack and pulled out a loaf of bread and a packaged sandwich. They then removed a Faraday bag – which blocks cell signals – containing a passport, a cell phone and a wallet. Wasser later recovered a 3D-printed gun from the backpack that allegedly matched three shell casings found at the Manhattan crime scene.
Detwiler and Frye searched through two jackets Mangione was wearing and pulled out several items, including a jar of peanut butter, a wallet, black gloves and some string. McCoy also removed a folded piece of paper from one of Mangione’s pockets. “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” was playing in the background as the officers continued their search.
Around 10 a.m., the police officers layered Mangione’s jackets back on him. As they walked Mangione out of the restaurant with his hands cuffed behind his back, the final chords of the cheerful Christmas carol trumpeted over the loudspeaker.
Oh by golly, have a holly jolly Christmas this year…
