As 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was taken into custody for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, many online responses displayed sympathy for Mangione while recounting their own experiences with the American healthcare system.
Posts have called the murder suspect a "hero" while others have tried to sell online merchandise featuring designs inspired by the shooting. Others have flooded the Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald's where Mangione was apprehended with negative reviews.
Many of the reviews reference "rats" working there, leading to Yelp disabling reviews for the establishment, citing they have nothing to do with the actual quality or experience at the restaurant.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro spoke against the response overnight.
"I understand people have real frustration with our healthcare system," he said. "This killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this. He is no hero. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911."
University of Chicago professor Robert Vargas said the health care industry is unique with the attention the killing has garnered.
Vargas also wrote a book about the experiences of uninsured Chicagoans.
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"That message resonates with people particularly who have had experiences of having their claims denied, or having loved ones claims denied and them suffering tremendously as a result of it," Vargas said. “I think there’s a troubling history in the US but also ongoing practice today of violence being politicized."
Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy for American families. Vargas said health insurance issues likely impact everyone at some point in their life, and lack of reform to fix it could be what's drawing brazen acts and criticism.
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“I’ve been really struck by how much this has resonated with people, and how quickly people were able to draw connections to their own experiences with the health insurance industry," he said.
Connor Strobel, an assistant professor of sociology at U of C who focuses on social deviation, noted the differences in how people saw Thompson in the wake of his killing.
"The people who seem to be celebrating, they're leaning into precisely what they find to be disagreeable in the way in which the shooting was initial framed by news coverage," he said.
"It took the CEO as being a normal person and victim of a crime, the people who reacted strongly in the opposite direction said this wasn't an everyday person, this person was... something they saw as a villain," Strobel said.
Gov. Shapiro doubled down that no matter your viewpoint on an issue, crime won't be tolerated.
"We do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint," he said.
