Gilman

A boys school in Baltimore where Luigi Mangione graduated as high school valedictorian in 2016.

“We recently became aware that the person arrested in connection with the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is a Gilman alumnus,” Henry P.A. Smyth, the head of the school, wrote in an email to people affiliated with the school. “This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.”

Former classmates and teachers at Gilman School remembered him as a well-liked, optimistic student.

“He was a good spirit,” said a former teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being publicly associated with Mangione. “He was very bright, vivacious and full of life. … I’m gut-punched because it just doesn’t fit the boy that I knew those years ago.”

Another former teacher and two former students, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid being linked to the killing, shared examples they said illustrated his technical aptitude and leadership abilities. As a leader of a student robotics club, Mangione helped design a robot that advanced to the Maryland state finals and a regional competition in Pennsylvania in 2016.

Gilman, an all-boys school in Baltimore, said it does not have further information to share about Mangione beyond news reports.

In a 2016 high school yearbook, Mangione wrote that he “hated” being sent to the school as a sixth-grader but that it became “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” In his valedictory speech, posted by Gilman, Mangione talked about how he and his classmates had “the fearlessness to explore new things and the obvious ability to excel.”