I wasn’t the only one who locked eyes with Luigi Mangione.
As he shuffled along the carpeted corridor of Blair County Courthouse, he scanned the faces of the waiting media lined against a wall and his eyes had an intensity and a disdain that asked: “What are you looking at?”
The 26-year-old was a distance of no more than a few feet away as he was escorted by police officers towards the courtroom, shackled at his wrists and ankles in a blue sweatshirt and trousers.
He was unshaven and looked tired, every inch a man who had been on the run, and he cut a defeated figure, even as he stared in indignation, even if he was interested in the interest in him.
His eyes alone, of course, have fronted the police public information appeal for as long as we were unable to see his full face.
A murder investigation that played out in pictures delivered a break for detectives with the “flirtatious” takedown of the face mask at the New York hostel in the days before the murder.
Inside the courtroom, they sat Mangione down at a desk, still shackled, with six police officers around him.
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He was ultra-polite with the judge when asked to confirm details about himself, even if he did show his frustration a couple of times.
One was when prosecutors were arguing against bail and said he was found with a substantial amount of money in his possession, including foreign currency. Mangione looked flabbergasted and argued that he had no money.
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Another “moment” came when it was said he had started to shake when asked by a police officer if he had been to New York recently. Mangione wasn’t happy.
As he sat through around 15 minutes of a court process, downstairs at the Blair County Courthouse, Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro was preparing to give a news conference. He said the suspect who tried to kill a healthcare CEO was a coward, not a hero. He was addressing the adulation that seems to have grown around the New York assassin, fuelled by a series of images released to further public appeals.
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The suspect himself might consider these are pictures that speak of adventure – they carry a confidence and assertiveness of a man indulging the urge to carry out his will, whatever the consequences of his actions.
A murder investigation played out in pictures provided a contrast to the day that has come before.
The picture was of a man facing a murder charge and everything that comes with it.
By way of emphasis, the police issued a picture of Mangione in his holding cell, now staring at a murder charge. And his family issued a statement speaking of their shock and devastation.
Assuming the police do have their guy, it was a night for him to contemplate the reality in which he finds himself. And lock eyes with the loss and suffering of innocents.
