Prosecutors are being urged to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of a major healthcare company last year.
In February, Mangione pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the killing of 50-year-old Brian Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel in New York in December.
Mr Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
Now, US attorney general Pam Bondi has issued a statement saying she has “directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case”.
She added that the murder of Mr Thompson, an “innocent man and father of two young children”, was a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”.
Ms Bondi said her intervention was part of President Donald Trump’s “agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”.
She said that because the shooting happened in a public place with “bystanders nearby”, there could have been a “grave risk of death to additional persons”.
The US Department of Justice said Ms Bondi’s actions were in line with her “day one memo as attorney general” entitled “Reviving The Federal Death Penalty And Lifting The Moratorium On Federal Executions”.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
Mangione, 26, is accused of ambushing and shooting Mr Thompson as he walked to an investor conference.
He also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document expressing “ill will” towards corporate America.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
