Prosecutors are being urged to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of a major company in New York in December.
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.
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 Thomson, 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 Trump’s “agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”.
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