• Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot on Wednesday, December 4, in New York City
• Mangione reportedly struggled with severe back pain for years before “radio silence” over the summer
• According to the report, Mangione underwent surgery last year for his back pain New York Times

Luigi Mangione – the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson – was reportedly struggling with “debilitating” back pain before going “radio silent” with friends over the summer.

On Monday, December 9, PEOPLE confirmed that Mangione, 26, was charged with one count of murder, two counts of second-degree weapons possession, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document and one count of possession of a Third degree firearm.

He is accused of killing Thompson shortly before 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday, December 4, outside New York’s Hilton Midtown on Sixth Avenue.

After the charges were announced, friends of Mangione spoke about living with the defendant at the Surf Break – a residential area near Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu, Hawaii – where he reportedly lived from January to June 2022 Honolulu Civil Beat.

The co-living space’s founder, RJ Martin, recalled that Mangione suffered from “chronic back pain” stemming from an apparent pinched nerve that he had had for years, according to the outlet.

“I loved that guy,” Martin said, according to the publication. “In a way, I feel like my members are my children.”

Josiah Ryan, Martin’s spokesman, told the Associated Press that Mangione underwent a background check before moving into the group home.

“Luigi was generally considered a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said, according to the outlet. “There were no signs pointing to the alleged crimes he was alleged to have committed.”

Ryan added that Mangione’s back pain interfered with his daily life at times, recalling, “He went surfing with RJ once, but it didn’t work out because of his back.”

Ryan told AP that Mangione and Martin regularly went to a climbing gym together before the defendant left for surgery on the mainland.

The New York Times reported that Mangione had back surgery last year.

“His spine was somehow misaligned,” Martin said, according to the release. “He said his lower vertebrae were almost half a centimeter apart and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes he was fine and sometimes he wasn’t.

The outlet stated that he suffered from “debilitating pain” at times and had to “replace his mattress” after taking a group surfing lesson.

Martin added New York Times that Mangione said he wasn’t in a relationship because “he knew dating and physical intimacy wasn’t possible due to his back condition. “I remember him telling me that and it just breaks my heart.”

Although Mangione continued to stay in touch with Martin and text him photos after his back surgery, the co-living space founder didn’t hear from him again over the summer.

“He went silent on the radio in June or July,” Martin said Civil Beat.

Surfbreak did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.

According to the Civil BeatMangione had “no significant criminal record in Hawaii,” aside from having to pay a court-ordered $100 fine in November 2023 after pleading no contest to a minor misdemeanor charge of trespassing in a “restricted area” of Oahu’s Nuuanu Pali Lookout had raised.

Aaron Cranston — Mangione’s former classmate at Gilman School in Baltimore — also told the story New York Times that a message had been forwarded to him and several others earlier this year because Mangione’s family had tried to contact him. Cranston, who said he no longer remained close to the suspect after high school, told the newspaper that Mangione’s family had not heard from him for “several months” after his “back surgery.”

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Mangione was arrested Monday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a customer spotted him and notified an employee. The employee then called the police.

Officers discovered he was in possession of a 9mm “ghost gun” similar to the one used to shoot Thompson, several fake IDs and a three-page manifesto critical of the health insurance industry.