BURSTLuigi Mangione, 26, who was recently arrested in the killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, lived in Hawaii at one point. Some news outlets reported that Mangione was a climber, which led to us receiving inquiries as to whether or not we at Gripped had heard of him – the answer is no.
R.J. Martin, the founder of Surfbreak (a co-living space near Honolulu’s Ala Moana Beach Park) where Mangione was based, talked to the Associate Press, which stated, “Mangione was often in pain from a back problem, Martin said, although the two would still rock climb together at at HiClimb, a gym in Kakaʻako near Surfbreak. Martin recalled the problem, which had lingered for years, was a misaligned vertebrae that would pinch Mangione’s spinal cord.”
Award-winning author Jeff Smoot wrote about HiClimb in 2021 for Climbing, in which he said, “What sets HiClimb apart, however, is its spirit of community and inclusiveness, typified by Anthony Bagnoli, a 48-year-old Kentucky native… The day before the gym’s Grand Entrance, he led me around the facility, where the walls all have Hawai’ian names—Pa’akai (salt), Loko (pond), Napu (cave), Paniolo (cowboy), Huinakolu (triangles)—and explaining the historical and cultural implications of opening a climbing gym on sacred ground.”
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