Mangione's Reported Ailments: Chronic Pain, Lyme Disease

With much talk of motive in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, focus has turned to the suspected shooter's social media posts. Luigi Mangione "left behind a tantalizing digital footprint with few parallels in the history of famed assassins," revealing the data engineer to be an "avid gamer, fitness buff, backpacker, amateur philosopher, [and] victim of debilitating back pain," per Axios. Based on archived Reddit posts believed to be his, the Guardian reports Mangione suffered from spondylolisthesis, a condition in which a spinal vertebra slips out of place, putting pressure on the vertebra below, potentially causing chronic back pain and nerve injury. He also detailed past struggles with Lyme disease and brain fog, per CNN.

Mangione allegedly described back pain as far back as childhood, adding his spondylolisthesis was aggravated following a surfing lesson. "I'm terrified of the implications," he allegedly wrote, per CNN, weeks before noting he'd undergone "a L5/S1 fusion" in 2023. The surgery joins lumbar and sacral vertebrae, often using metal plates, rods, and screws to hold everything in place. As the Guardian notes, the banner image on an X account linked to Mangione shows an X-ray image with rods and screws in the lower spine. On X, the 26-year-old appears to have reposted content focused on self-improvement or "the negative health consequences of modern consumption," per the New York Times.

He also quoted a Reddit commenter as saying the Unabomber "had the balls to recognize that peaceful protest has gotten us absolutely nowhere" and that "'violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators," per CNN. A friend tells the outlet Mangione was bedbound for a week around 2022 due to pain. "It was really traumatic and difficult, you know, when you're in your early 20s and you can't, you know, do some basic things," he says. Mangione urged others in his situation to get surgery. "I mean the situation sucks for sure, but the solution isn't to retreat into a bubble," he wrote on Reddit, per the Guardian. His accounts went quiet midsummer, with evidence friends had been unable to reach him, per CNN. (More Luigi Mangione stories.)