What We Know About Luigi Mangione's Alleged Female Fans In Court

In late December 2024, a rumor spread on social media that about two dozen women waited in the cold for public seats in court to support Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. 

The claim spread on platforms like X (archived), Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived). One post from Pop Crave (archived), which posts celebrity news and updates on X, received more than 115,000 likes and 6.9 million views as of this writing.

As the Pop Crave post noted, the rumor appeared to originate from ABC News reporting; CBS News made a similar report. While ABC News and CBS News are considered reputable outlets, as of this writing, the outlets haven't responded to our request for more evidence. Snopes was not in the courtroom and cannot independently verify the claim about the number of women who were there to support Mangione.

Here's what the ABC News story (archived) says (emphasis ours): 

The high-profile defendant appeared to not have family in the courtroom. But about two dozen women, who waited in line in the frigid cold for public seats in the courtroom gallery, said they were there to support Mangione. Most of the women wore face masks and a few appeared visibly emotional as Mangione entered the courtroom.
 

"This is a grave injustice, and that's why people are here," one of the women, who said she arrived at the courthouse at 5 a.m., told ABC News.

Here's how CBS News reported the scene at Mangione's arraignment: 

Among the long line of reporters who were waiting to get into the courtroom Monday morning, there were also members of the public - almost all of them young women - a few of whom told CBS News New York's Ali Bauman they were there to support Mangione. Outside the courthouse, CBS News New York's Lisa Rozner reported there were about two dozen people gathered to show support for Mangione.

As Mangione left court, some of the women in attendance gave him a thumbs up. 

News organizations took pictures of people standing outside of the New York courthouse where Mangione pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — but it's unclear from the photos how many people were there, how many were women, how many supported Mangione and how many made it into the courtroom. Here's one example: 

(Getty Images)

CBS News also interviewed a woman outside the courthouse and included a clip in its report (at 2:01). We'll update this story if we hear from either news outlet or if we find out more information.