A timeline of Luigi Mangione’s criminal cases in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione’s guilty plea Friday to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson resolved one of two cases against him in the executive's death. He is scheduled to go on trial on state murder charges on Sept. 8. His sentencing in the federal case is set for Dec. 18.

Thompson, 50, was shot outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City.

Here is a timeline of key events:

Nov. 24: A man prosecutors say is Mangione arrives in New York City on a Greyhound bus. He takes a taxi to the area of the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson is later shot, then goes to a hostel where he stays until the morning of the shooting. While checking in, prosecutors say, the man presents a fake New Jersey driver’s license bearing the name Mark Rosario.

Dec. 2: Thompson arrives in New York. He is staying at a hotel across the street from the Hilton.

Dec. 4: Thompson is shot and killed. The shooter, later identified by prosecutors as Mangione, waits in the area for about an hour before ambushing Thompson. He then flees through Central Park to upper Manhattan before taking the subway to Penn Station and boarding an Amtrak train to Philadelphia, police say. The shooting is captured on surveillance video.

Dec. 5: In the days after the shooting, police release various images of the suspected shooter, including one showing his face as he checked into the hostel.

Dec. 6: Police find a backpack in Central Park that they say the shooter discarded as he fled. It contains Monopoly money and a black Tommy Hilfiger jacket.

Dec. 9: Altoona police are dispatched to a McDonald’s for a report of a man matching the description of the suspect in Thompson's killing. The man provides a fake ID and name, Mark Rosario, before identifying himself as Luigi Mangione. He is arrested. In his backpack, police find a 3D-printed pistol prosecutors say matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook that describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive.

Dec. 11: Mangione shouts about an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” and writhes in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as they lead him into an Altoona courthouse.

Dec. 17: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announces that Mangione has been indicted on state charges including murder as an act of terrorism, calling the killing “a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.”

Dec. 19: Mangione is extradited from Pennsylvania and flown to New York. He is led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers in a highly choreographed perp walk in front of news cameras. The mayor at the time, Eric Adams, and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch look on. Mangione is taken to federal court, where he is charged with stalking and murder.

Dec. 23: Mangione is arraigned on state murder and terror charges. He pleads not guilty while his lawyer complains that the dueling federal and state prosecutions had turned him into a “human ping-pong ball.”

April 1: Then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says she has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Mangione, calling Thompson's killing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America” and “an act of political violence.”

April 25: Mangione pleads not guilty to a federal murder charge as prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty against him.

Sept. 16: The judge in the state case, Gregory Carro, throws out Mangione's terrorism charges, rejecting the prosecution’s theory that the killing was “intended to evoke terror.” The ruling eliminated the top two charges in Mangione’s state case, sparing him the possibility of a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. Carro keeps other charges in place, including second-degree murder.

Dec. 1: A three-week evidentiary hearing kicks off in Mangione’s state case. Prosecutors call 17 witnesses, many of them police officers and other personnel involved in his arrest, and play body-camera footage of officers arresting Mangione and a 911 call from the McDonald's manager about a man resembling “the CEO shooter.” They also reveal notes about a “survival kit” and “intel checkin” and possible escape plans that they say Mangione had with him.

Jan. 30: U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett bars federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Mangione, dismissing a federal murder charge that enabled them to seek capital punishment. Garnett also rules that prosecutors can use evidence collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest.

Feb. 6: Mangione speaks out in court against the prospect of back-to-back trials, telling Carro: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

May 18: Carro rules that prosecutors in the state case can use the gun, notebook and other items that police found in Mangione’s backpack after his arrest. However, the judge bars items that officers took from the bag before Mangione was taken into custody, including a loaded gun magazine, cellphone, passport and wallet.

June 17: Carro discloses that Mangione plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he killed Thompson. The next day, Mangione's lawyers reverse course and tell Carro he wouldn't be pursuing a psychiatric defense.

Aug. 14: Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges and admits he targeted and killed Thompson. Prosecutors say they intend to seek a sentence of life in prison. Mangione's lawyers immediately file paperwork seeking to have the state murder case dismissed on double jeopardy grounds.

FILE - Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is escorted by police, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)

FILE - This booking photo released Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP, File)

FILE - This image release by Pennsylvania State Police shows a video image of Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pa., Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP, File)

FILE - Luigi Mangione appears at a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Monday, May 18, 2026. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Suspect Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP, File)

Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)

Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading toward the Middle East as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, and its deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. Several Democratic lawmakers are pressing for accountability from the Pentagon over conditions aboard the carrier, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said were “completely misrepresented.”

Extended deployments of carriers during the Iran conflict have raised concerns about the impact on service members who are away from home for long periods as well as the increasing strain on the ship and its equipment. While renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran have calmed in recent weeks, the Navy has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the war.

Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. can maintain the blockade “indefinitely.”

The USS George Washington left port in Da Nang, Vietnam, last week, a Navy statement said. The carrier, along with a cruiser and a destroyer, have since been spotted crossing the Singapore Strait.

A Navy official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail sensitive ship details, confirmed that the Washington was in the Strait of Malacca, which links the Pacific and Indian oceans and puts the carrier on a course to head into the Indian Ocean. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the Washington would replace the Lincoln as one of the two aircraft carriers now stationed in the Middle East.

The move would leave the waters of the Pacific without a U.S. carrier presence for an unknown period of time. The Trump administration sees China, the dominant power in the region, as “a settled force” that only needs to be deterred from dominating the U.S. or its allies and not the top global adversary that it was under the Biden administration.

The Lincoln originally deployed Nov. 21 from San Diego, and it arrived in the Middle East in January, ahead of the launch of the Iran war on Feb. 28. The Navy conceded that the conflict created a “highly contested environment where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions.” That, in turn, led to shortages and loss of mail aboard the aircraft carrier, the Navy said in a statement.

“Leadership prioritized mission-critical supplies: first food, then hygiene items, then mail,” the statement said, before assuring that sailors aboard the ship now have access to clean water and “healthy meal options.”

Democratic lawmakers are calling for investigations, more information and greater visibility into conditions aboard the ship, which was originally set to return home in May.

“The Lincoln’s prolonged deployment is especially significant because it is occurring in the context of continuing military operations against Iran and the possibility that substantial US naval forces will be required in the region for an extended period,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a letter to Navy leadership asking for a response to several questions.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran, said on social media that he is looking to take a bipartisan delegation on an official oversight visit to the ship and that the way sailors are being treated is “not just disgusting; it’s dangerous.”

Hegseth told reporters during ​a visit to Panama that he wants the Lincoln's sailors home and crews rotated as quickly as possible but pushed back against reports of problems aboard.

“We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and ​I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than ​anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere ⁠conditions with less port calls — it’s incredible.”

Navy leaders, including acting Secretary Hung Cao, last week held a tense town hall for families of troops aboard the USS Lincoln, at which the commanders of the Navy’s air and surface forces promised to do everything they could to relieve the aircraft carrier. MS NOW reported earlier on the meeting.

When reports of food shortages aboard the ship first surfaced in April, the Navy pushed back, calling those reports “false.”

Reports have since emerged that sailors on the Lincoln are struggling with mental health concerns. The Navy said in its statement that it has “not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship,” but officials declined to provide data, citing operational security and patient privacy concerns.

The Navy official said that a sailor aboard the Lincoln went overboard in early August but that the person was quickly recovered, treated by the ship’s medical department and transferred off ship for follow-on care. The official would not say if it was being considered a suicide attempt.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, pushed back on reports about poor conditions.

“The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended,” the command said on social media.

Other carriers also have had long runs that have raised concerns about morale. The USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in mid-May after an 11-month deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War, during which it supported the U.S. war with Iran and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

During its deployment, the Ford experienced a fire in a laundry space that forced the carrier to turn around and return to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs and left hundreds of sailors without places to sleep.

Concerns about the demands of battle and the dangers of overextending ships and their crew predate the Iran war, with a number of mishaps on ships battling Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2024 and 2025, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman on a longer-than-expected deployment.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that the USS Abraham Lincoln has spent more than 240 days of uninterrupted time at sea and its overall deployment has exceeded 260 days.

FILE - The USS George Washington aircraft carrier is pictured off the coast of Argentina, May 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)