Ramesh Nyberg
Heroes and Villains
A recent online news article bears the headline, “Why You Shouldn’t Shoot Down a Drone.”
Isn’t it astonishing that people have to be informed that shooting at objects in the sky is dangerous? I’m seriously thinking of this for the plot of a novel: A man is found dead in his backyard with a bullet wound to the head. He was outside smoking because he and his wife had agreed there was no smoking in the house. There’s no evidence around except a spilled glass of bourbon, a cigarette with a long ash and the dead guy. There are no empty casings – nothing. And, the hunt is on. Investigators get reports that someone was trying to shoot down a drone in the neighborhood and a “person of interest” is developed. And,in the shooter’s yard, there are three casings upon which is written, “Die, drones, die.”
Alright, let’s get serious. By the time this column shows up in your mailbox, the New Jersey drone mystery will likely be solved. It might end up being a group of nerdy drone techies who are building gigantic drones and practicing for some majestic light show with which they want to wow the world. If it’s not that, who knows? I doubt, though, that it will still be in the public eye. What will remain the buzz at happy hours and office water dispensers around the nation is the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. There is so much to unpack with this case that it makes one’s head spin. I’ll start with the scene and the evidence. How many cases have you been on that had writing on the cartridge casings? In 22 years of homicide investigation, I’ll give you my count: zero. We did have one case in which the killer – the only serial killer Miami has seen in decades – wrote “Third! See if you can catch me” in black marker on the back of his third strangulation victim. But, casings? Never.
Also found near the scene was a backpack full of Monopoly® money and a water bottle, both of which have yielded DNA and fingerprint evidence now linked to the defendant, Luigi Mangione. Once all of this – especially the casings – came to light, we all knew we were in for a major media circus. We were also in for a deluge of support – even outright hero worship – for the defendant, Luigi Mangione. I read many comments on several YouTube videos about the shooting. Here are some:
“He’s a hero. Set him free!”
“If you’re charging him with murder, charge UHC with a thousand more!”
“Luigi for president!”
“We love you, Luigi – you did NOTHING wrong.”
“Jury nullification – not guilty!”
“Not guilty – he was with me all day!”
“Look at the eyebrows – no way they match! Luigi is a scapegoat!”
“The corporate elite don’t give a s—t about us. Now, they’re getting what’s coming to them.”
And so on, over and over. The infatuation for what Luigi’s fans believe is an achievement worthy of the Nobel Prize is only deepened by a widely held opinion that he is an attractive guy.
“No one that hot should ever go to jail!” one college girl giggled on a TV network interview.
“Yeah,” the girl next to her said, “he couldn’t have murdered the guy. I mean look at him” (more giggling).
I thought that, by 2024, we would have transcended the empty-headed naïveté which was so commonplace in the 1970s. Ted Bundy went to trial in 1978 for the strangulation and bludgeoning murders of two college girls in their Florida State University dorm. A third girl was nearly beaten to death during the attack. Ted Bundy’s last murder victim was 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, whom he kidnapped from a middle school in Lake City, Florida. The courtroom was packed with young female admirers, craning their necks to get a peek at the also handsome Bundy. Perhaps a few pictures of Kimberly Leach’s decomposed body would have emptied that courtroom in a hurry.
The breathless excitement by young women, as well as the widespread expression of “bro-mance” by young men who think shooting someone in the back is a heroic act, troubles me. It tells me people really haven’t changed or learned much from history. It tells me that young women today are just as vulnerable to smooth-talking, sharp looking predators as they were 50 years ago. It also speaks to how hypocritical people can be when their emotions take over. I would hazard a guess that most of these people who have cloaked Luigi Mangione in godlike robes have also decried gun violence and are loud advocates for gun control. Along comes a child of the corporate elite with a homemade gun and he is given his own throne. It’s remarkable.
Now, I know firsthand that our health care system is a maddening, frustrating shell game which has left most of us angry and hurting. I’ve had asthma medication denied (without any reason because they don’t have to give one) and my wife has been denied medication for her severe migraines. A now retired homicide cop I’m good friends with had to take his insurance company to court more than four times to get them to pay for a ventilator his daughter needed to stay alive. There are thousands of stories and you probably have one. People have died because they couldn’t get their medication or treatment covered. It’s hard to argue against the belief that the health “care” system cares for nothing except gargantuan profit.
The question we have to answer, however, is this: Does a broken system turn us into a bunch of armed vigilantes? I understand the need for change – even the need to send strong messages – but to kill a man in cold blood sends the wrong message. If excused, it sets a precedent of mindset for others: A parole board lets a violent inmate out early on parole and the convict ends up raping and killing a young woman. These types of enraging stories happen repeatedly in the criminal justice system. So, then what…we start gunning down members of the parole board? We kill judges and jurors because they get it wrong?
Brian Thompson leaves behind two children, neither of whom have anything to do with what their father did for a living. He has now been erased from their lives forever. Sure, they are likely very wealthy and their financial life is probably taken care of, but a loss is a loss and it doesn’t hurt any less for a family with money as it does for a poor one.
Corporate greed isn’t going anywhere, Luigi or not. Things might be very different if Luigi’s bullet – like one intended for a drone – missed its mark and killed a child. No one would be giggling and blushing about Luigi if that was the case.
Ramesh Nyberg retired from law enforcement in November 2006 after 27 years of police work. He lives in Miami and teaches criminal justice at a local high school. He also teaches regional law enforcement courses through Training Force, USA. He enjoys getting feedback from readers and can be reached at ramesh.nyberg@gmail.com. Also, Ram has written a new book, Badge, Tie and Gun: Life and Death Journeys of a Miami Detective, which is available on Amazon in both Kindle eBook and paperback.
