The brother of the Unabomber has spoken out, saying that knowing that the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer read his sibling's manifesto "gives me a great deal of personal pain."
David Kaczynski, the brother of Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, said that his sibling's actions are "like a virus," in an interview with NBC News. He said that while the Unabombers words may not sound so wild, but "his behavior, I believe, is the behavior of a lunatic."
From 1978 to 1995, the Unabomber planted homemade bombs that killed three people and injured almost two dozen. He was arrested in 1996 and sent to prison, where he committed suicide in 2023.
"To the extent that he may have attributed at all to sort of normalizing or recasting the violent acts as beneficial to humanity is a terrible mistake," David Kaczynski told the outlet.
Following the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of shooting and killing CEO Brian Thompson in a targeted attack last week, it was discovered that Mangione had read and left a four-star review of the Unabomber's manifesto on Goodreads.
In the review, Mangione wrote that it was easy to look at the Unabomber's manifesto as the work of "a lunatic," but added that "it's simply impossible to ignore how prescient how many of his predictions of modern society turned out."
"It really gives me a great deal of personal pain to think my brother's actions have in any way contributed to influencing a man like this to kill an innocent human being," David Kaczynski told NBC News.
Mangione was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder after initially being brought in on gun charges. When he was taken into custody, authorities reportedly found his own manifesto on him, in which he claimed "these parasites had it coming," as reported by the New York Times.
As Mangione was being transferred to his hearing Tuesday, he tried to talk to the media. "This is completely unjust and is an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience," Mangione said before police aggressively ushered him into the building.
Mangione's family released a statement following his arrest on X, saying they were "devastated" by the news. "Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved," the statement said.
Originally published by Latin Times.