A Washington Post columnist on Friday evening called the public’s reaction to the assassination of a health insurance CEO “chilling” — and decried what she called ” public bloodlust for destruction and retribution .”
Luigi Mangione , a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, has been charged with murder in the brazen slaying of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare who was gunned down last week outside a Manhattan hotel. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a massive five-day manhunt.
Columnist Catherine Rampell noted in her column that Mangione has been compared to Robin Hood, held up by some as an almost “folk hero” figure, and even called by man a “hottie.”
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That reaction, she said, has been “chilling” — and has come from both “online hordes” and “supposedly serious public figures, including at least two federal lawmakers.”