ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) — A McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, is getting backlash online after an employee called 911, leading to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione was taken into custody at the McDonald’s on Monday morning after a customer noticed a man in the back of the store with a mask, laptop and backpack. The customer then went to an employee who in turn called 911.
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Calls for Luigi Mangione to be freed
Since the arrest, social media has lit up with calls for Mangione to be freed, which has led to users leaving bad reviews for the fast-food restaurant, even if they’ve likely never been there. While some want to praise Mangione, Gov. Josh Shapiro was vocal against “vigilante justice” and said he’s “not a hero.”
A recurring theme for the reviews is “rats,” which likely refers to the employee “ratting out” Mangione by calling 911. Others are also calling it “noisy” because “employees talk too much,” again, likely referring to the employee talking to dispatch/police.
Luigi Mangione charged with murder in UnitedHealthcare shooting
“Full of rats. Untrustworthy staff. Nobody stays in their lane,” one reviewer said on Facebook.
“Mcdiarrrhea of the mouth here. Would not recommend. Unsafe food served by unsafe ppl. Curious what insurance plans employees get working here,” one user from Illinois wrote on Yelp.
“This McDonald’s location is dealing with a serious rat problem. They have rats working the register,” said another from New York on Yelp.
Yelp has shut down reviews for the location, citing “unusual activity.”
UnitedHealthcare shooting arrest: ‘Review bombing’
The following statement pops up when visiting the page:
“This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news. While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we’ve temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events. Please note that we apply this same policy regardless of the business and regardless of the topic at issue. Read more on Yelp Support.
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If you’re here to leave a review based on a first-hand experience with the business, please check back at a later date.”
The “review bombing” of the store has led to Yelp showing a 1-star rating for the location. Meanwhile, poor reviews continue to flood the “McDonald’s (Altoona, PA)” Facebook page.
UnitedHealthcare shooting reward
It was unknown whether the employee who called 911 or the customer who alerted them would receive the $50,000 reward offered by the FBI or the $10,000 reward from the NYPD for information leading to an arrest in Thompson’s slaying.
