this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2025
502 points (98.6% liked)

News

33588 readers
1617 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.

The discovery, recounted in court Monday as Mangione fights to keep evidence out of his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Manjushri@piefed.social 381 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Not only did they search the bag without a warrant...

Wasser resumed her search after an 11-minute drive to the police station and almost immediately found the gun and silencer — the latter discovery prompting her to laugh and exclaim “nice,” according to body-worn camera footage. Wasser said the gun was in a side pocket that she hadn’t searched at McDonald’s.

She had the bag in her car for over ten minutes, with not witnesses or video, and then after resuming the incomplete search almost immediately found the gun and silencer. My read is that there is every possibility that the gun and silencer could have been placed in the bag during that transport.

An officer concerned about a bomb accidentally being brought to the police station (again) would hardly forget to look in the bag's side pockets. Nor is it reasonable to suggest that they could overlook a gun and silencer in the initial search of the bag.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 123 points 5 days ago (8 children)

I remember OJ Simpson getting off a double-murder because there was a remote possibility that someone (actually several hundred people) orchestrated a conspiracy to plant evidence.

He stabbed two people to death and there was DNA evidence tying him to the crime scene.

[–] cheesybuddha@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Years later Jurors came out and said they acquitted OJ in response to the Rodney King incident.

[–] ChokingHazard@lemmy.world 52 points 5 days ago (17 children)

Not remote, they did. Police corruption let him off. If they let the evidence do its job there was enough to convict.

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 47 points 5 days ago

They went with their instincts and tried to frame a guy who just happened to actually be guilty, and it backfired on them.

load more comments (16 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 31 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Yeah, I thought it was known long ago that the chain of possession (or whatever the term is) for the backpack is fucked. Idk why this isn't being used straight away to throw away all evidence.

[–] fodor@lemmy.zip 19 points 4 days ago

It is being used. The defense is moving to suppress evidence (his backpack and anything he said before he was locked up), and that's what these days in court are all about.

The state is trying to tell a complicated story. They claim that he (a) wasn't detained, (b) voluntarily gave them a fake ID because ... nobody knows why, (c) he didn't feel like he was being detained, and therefore (d) they arrested him for the fake ID, after which (e) they read him Miranda, and after that (f) they searched his bag as part of arresting him.

That lets them maximize the evidence against him. The problem for the prosecution is that probably the above is actually factually incorrect. It's the judge's job to determine exactly where the prosecution and cops are making shit up, which is why the hearings are happening right now. Later the judge will rule on what actually happened, and therefore what evidence can be admitted against him.

The proceedings right now are before the trial. No jury is watching this.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 20 points 4 days ago

"nice" is what you exclaim after discovering what your colleague meant by "I put a little something special in there just for you." with a wink.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 46 points 4 days ago

Is it not legal to carry bullets any more?

[–] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 215 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (11 children)

On body-worn camera video played in court, Wasser was heard saying she wanted to check the bag for bombs before removing it from the McDonald’s. Despite that concern, she acknowledged in her testimony Monday that police never cleared the restaurant of customers or employees.

Unless they had probable cause to believe there was a bomb, that's absolutely no excuse for a search. Might as well just get rid of the fourth amendment altogether if police can just imagine the possibility of a dangerous object and excuse searching anything at any time.

If she really thought there was a bomb, she is recklessly handling this herself instead of calling in a properly trained and equipped bomb squad. But far worse, she claims she needed to check it so as not bring a bomb to the station, but apparently has no problem potentially handling a bomb around a bunch of innocent bystanders.

That she is lying in order to justify what she knew to be an illegal search is actually the least damning interpretation. Either way though, the evidence should be thrown out along with her career.

[–] Manjushri@piefed.social 124 points 5 days ago

I replied at about the same time as you, with similar comment, but I wanted to add that she didn't 'find' the gun and silencer until she took the bag on an 11 minute ride to the station in her car. How do you search a bag for a possible bomb and miss a handgun and silencer? That is an incompetent search or the gun wasn't there during the initial search and was added later.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] lunelovegood@ttrpg.network 132 points 5 days ago (30 children)

We can't trust any 'evidence' cops find because they have an extensive history of planting it.

[–] n0respect@lemmy.world 37 points 4 days ago (4 children)

What kind of assassin carries an extra magazine?

[–] themaninblack@lemmy.world 41 points 4 days ago

And days after? Makes no sense.

load more comments (3 replies)

They only "found" the gun on the second search at the police station

"At the McDonalds police also discovered a clip containing bullets which was wrapped up in some undergarments"

"At the Altoona police department, the Altoona police continued to search the backpack resulting in ... 9mm handgun with printed lower receiver."

PDF

I also remember reading about a gap in body cam footage of 11 minutes. This took me 30m to find because internet search is enshitified I had to resort to chatgpt.

Seriously, try finding that bodycam information on a search engine.

load more comments (28 replies)
[–] cv_octavio@piefed.ca 60 points 4 days ago

Well that clinches it. Bullets are super rare in the US. 

[–] delgato@sh.itjust.works 113 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Wouldn’t the bullets that killed the CEO be in the corpse and not Luigi’s bag? Sounds like exculpatory evidence to me…

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 41 points 4 days ago (5 children)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 49 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Luigi wasn’t there he was with me, we were picking blueberries in the woods.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 76 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Ridiculous. There’s like ten thousand people who can testify that he was with them at the time of the shooting.

[–] Zagam@piefed.social 38 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

The problem is that they're all lying to cover for him. i know this because he was with me at the time. We were talking fashion, he was giving me tips.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 35 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I find it hard to believe he was just casually carrying around bullets days after allegedly shooting someone.....

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 81 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Could this dude be any more photogenic? Goddamn

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 67 points 5 days ago (2 children)

No way to know if those bullets and other objects on the bag were there or were planted by the cops.

[–] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 56 points 5 days ago (2 children)

This. They didn't find the gun or the manifesto until after the bag was taken to the station. Haven't seen the bodycam video, but cops carry 9mm pistols, so it would be incredibly easy for them to plant a mag during his being detained. A gun would be easy to plant once at the station, where they also just happened to 'find' his 'manifesto'.

[–] Manjushri@piefed.social 48 points 5 days ago (1 children)

My hunch is that the shooter, whoever it was, dumped the gun, silencer, and manifesto somewhere and the cops found it. When they decided they had the shooter in custody, they 'found' the evidence in his possession.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 47 points 5 days ago (7 children)

Why go through the trouble of makkng a "ghost gun" if you're going to keep stuff like this? It doesn't really make sense.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 40 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Was it just a random collection of unfired rounds in different calibers?

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] notgivingmynametoamachine@lemmy.world 60 points 5 days ago (8 children)

Wasn’t the official story such that a search at the scene of arrest found nothing, but suddenly the gun was found on search once the bag was in police custody in a second location? It’s hard to keep track of the truth in 2025.

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 41 points 5 days ago (3 children)

After an 11-minute car ride with no video. Suddenly, there's a gun in the side pocket, one that was conveniently overlooked before.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 36 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Nah I don't believe it. Look at that face. He should be pat on the head and sent home with well-wishes.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Those were my bullets. They were on loan before we went to the range together.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

The only useful outcome is acquittal. These rich board room types need to know they're not safe.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 26 points 5 days ago (1 children)

He was up here in Ottawa hoisting a beer with me at my local pub.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 34 points 5 days ago (9 children)

"A loaded gun magazine" aka just a magazine, you don't describe a magazine as loaded. They just wanted to use the word loaded to make it seem more dangerous so the jury sees him as violent

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] actualaccount@sopuli.xyz 30 points 5 days ago

In the part of rural Pennsylvania where people have guns. Yeah, Ok.

load more comments
view more: next ›