The man charged with the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO was arrested with what officials described as a 3D-printed ‘ghost gun’ fitted with a suppressor.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was taken into custody at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania Monday following a six-day manhunt for the shooter of Brian Thompson.
An evidence photo of the gun shows what appears to be a 3D-printed Glock 19 Gen3 9mm frame made from glass nylon fibers, according to a gun expert who goes by the name Print Shoot Repeat online.
But while people can print ready-made guns using expensive 3D printing machines, officials have suggested that Mangione’s weapon was likely assembled at home from individual parts that are bought online.
These so-called ‘ghost guns’ can be obtained without background checks and do not have serial numbers, making them an ideal weapon for criminals.
The firearm in question, described as being 3D printed, was likely a hybrid design that combined the homemade frame with traditional metal components like springs and tubing, Print Shoot Repeat’s claims about the gun suggested.
The weapon found on Mangione would mark the first known assassination in the US involving a 3D-printed firearm if the the gun was used in the murder.
Joe Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives, said in a statement: ‘He was in possession of a ghost gun that had the capability of firing a 9mm round.’
Kenny also said the gun, which is ‘consistent with the weapon used in the murder,’ may have been made on a 3D printer.
Luigi Mangione was arrested Monday with a 3D-printed ‘ghost gun’ in his possession, which is a firearm assembled at home from parts that are bought online
The weapon found on Mangione would mark the first known assassination in the US involving a 3D-printed firearm if the the gun was used in the murder
People looking for a ghost gun can purchase parts separately or search through dozens of websites that sell complete kits as low as $100.
Americans in 40 states can easily purchase a kit from a dealer in-person, no identification needed.
NBC News released a segment in 2022 showing a reporter easily purchasing a kit from a dealer who just took the cash and told him it should take ’24 minutes to put together.’
They typically do not come with instructions, leaving people to look up videos on how to assemble them
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday: ‘I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most.’
While Pennsylvania law does not specifically mention the term ‘ghost gun,’ possessing one could be a violation of laws against manufacturing weapons, having a firearm with an altered serial number or obliterating marks of identification.
DIY kits first hit the market in the 1990s but exploded in popularity recently.
Officials said that from January 2016 to December 2021, it received about 45,000 reports of suspected privately made firearms recovered by law enforcement agencies in criminal investigations — including 692 homicides or attempted homicides.
‘I can confirm it is a 3D-printed gun,’ Print Shoot Repeat, who runs the YouTube channel PSR, said. ‘What are the odds it was a 3D-printed suppressor? Well, I think kind of high honestly.’
He explained that a 3D printer suppressor is ‘super light,’ but does not allow the slide the cycle properly.
A 3D printing gun expert has confirmed that the potential murder weapon was made of 3D-printed parts but noted that the slide ‘was not 3D-printed’
The shooter of Thompson experienced a similar issue during the murder when he shot and had to recycle the slide to take another shot.
However, another gun expert with more than 30 years of training told Dailymail.com that most guns with a suppressor will behave that way.
‘There are different causes for jamming,’ the expert, who spoke on anonymity, said.
‘Sometimes the ammunition is poor sometimes the firearm is dirty, it’s not maintained. The ammunition is a poor grade. It doesn’t matter what kind of gun it is.
‘Mangione’s suppressor was a major deterrent in the way the gun operated because it takes that pressure away.
‘Using a suppressor gets dirty and it prohibits action of the firearm.’
Print Shoot Repeat, however, found clues that the suppressor may have been 3D-printed.
‘One thing about 3D print suppressors is that they are larger than normal, and they are kind of a bit fatter they are light because they’re plastic, but they also need to be a little bit beefier,’ said Print Shoot Repeat.
‘What I saw in the video it appeared that the suppressor was quite beefy, it was it had some girth to it let’s say this leads me to believe that potentially this suppressor that he used in the shooting could have been a 3D printed one.’
Mangione, who was valedictorian of his Maryland prep school, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a university spokesman
The gun expert then explains how a 3D-printed gun like the one allegedly used by Mangione would work, using his own 3D-printed Gen 3 as an example.
He explained that the weapon was built with rails from a kit, made of ‘nylon glass, nylon fiber.’
‘Now the slide is not 3D printed, I think a lot of people assume that,’ the gun expert continued.
‘The slide is a normal Gen 5 slide. We got a threaded barrel and of course, this registered, totally legal suppressor.’
‘In most states, it is completely legal to make your own gun whether it’s 3D printing welding together flats or anything else it’s completely legal in most States now
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives oversees firearm laws in the US, which it states does ‘not limit the technology or processes that may be used to produce firearms.’
