‘Power, Money, Corruption’: Man accused of showing up to UHC with gun sends message in court

Ryan Raiche KSTP

UHC shooting plot suspect in court

The man accused of threatening to shoot into the headquarters of UnitedHealthcare had an outburst in court Wednesday, shouting the words “power, money, and corruption.”

Ian Wagner, who his mother says suffers from mental health illness, appeared in court in a flak jacket designed to stop him from harming himself.

A judge ordered him to be held without bond, citing the threat to public safety.

5 INVESTIGATES has learned that police made multiple attempts to arrest Wagner on a probation violation as late as Monday morning, hours before they say he showed up with a gun at the UHC headquarters in Minnetonka.

Video from a Ring doorbell camera shows deputies on the doorstep of his parents’ home, looking for Ian on Monday morning. When he wasn’t there, deputies then traveled to his apartment in Bloomington.

Cheryl Wagner, Ian’s mother, tells 5 INVESTIGATES the search spooked Ian, who she says fled to his grandparents’ house, retrieved a gun, and traveled to the entrance of the health care giant.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Cheryl Wagner, outside court on Wednesday.

Cheryl and her husband, Levi, attended Ian’s first court appearance, hoping he could get badly needed mental health treatment.

“I feel helpless. He’s obviously not going to get the help that he needs in there,” she said.

On Wednesday, Hennepin County officials outlined the multiple attempts to arrest Wagner since he violated his probation and the terms of his electronic home monitoring on April 3.

The county said the device he had on was not equipped with GPS, and that it only notifies authorities if he’s out of a certain range.

Around the same time they were searching for him on Monday, the 911 call came in that Wagner was at UnitedHealthcare with a gun.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reported just last month that UnitedHealthcare has been paying Minnetonka police to patrol its headquarters almost daily.

In December, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian Thompson, was gunned down outside of a New York City hotel. The accused murderer, Luigi Mangione, was eventually arrested in Pennsylvania after walking into a McDonald’s.