Excerpt:

Prosecutors highlighted “about $10,000 — $8,000 in U.S. dollars and then $2,000 in foreign currency that was found on his person,” CNN correspondent Danny Freeman said following the court hearing.

“Also they said that he had a Faraday bag,” which blocks cell signals, a move that prosecutors alleged marked “an indication of criminal sophistication and reason they should hold him on bail,” Freeman continued.

After prosecutors made the claims, Mangione said he would like to “correct two things.”

“I don’t know where any of that money came from — I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication,” the suspect said in a statement that suggested police framed him.

  • Rakonat@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    edit-2
    16 days ago

    Could he be the actually shooter? Maybe.

    There is a lot of coincidences here that don’t really add up. It’s an uncanny and extremely lucky break for the police to go almost three days without any clue to the whereabouts or true identity of the shooter, to catching him away from his home eating lunch and just happening to carry all the things that link him to the crime in a public place.

    This young man had the foresight to use fake IDs, unregistered firearm, preplan and escape route and dump several items he’d no longer need after the crime, only to have at least 48 hours after the crime to dump these items anywhere between NYC and Altoona but he chose to keep all the items that he would know police could track or link to the crime?

    The CCTV grade pictures and video can be handwaved for not being a good match of the shooter by their poor quality, maybe there is an argument he wore a prosthetic. But having all the rest of the stuff on his person like he’s expecting to get caught is uncanny.

    Maybe there is some argument that he was being sentimental or thinking he was far enough away no one would link him. Maybe this is some attempt at a 4D chess move to make it look like he’s being framed. Or just maybe all the items claimed to have been found on his person at a McDonalds was really found several days ago in the backpack with monopoly money in Central Park and Law Enforcement rushed the items to the place of his arrest to plant such evidence. Or is there some fourth options where he is the shooter, but he knows the evidence was left in NYC and is calling out it as being planted to force the law enforcement agency to tip their hand and reveal some warrentless and illegal surveillance?

    Honestly, I have no idea, but what has been put forth by Law Enforcement right now doesn’t really pass smell the test. The urgency at which they pushed him in front of a judge certainly doesn’t help that. Usually cases such as this, the prosecution at least takes a few days to go over all the evidence they have and research the suspect in custody to better decide what charges are appropriate and strategy to present the case.