Luigi Mangione faces terror and murder charges in New York court. A federal prosecution is proceeding in parallel.

© Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Federal authorities filed a total of four counts against Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare.

© Alan Chin for The New York Times

The nature of the potential charges against Luigi Mangione was unclear, but they could allow federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

© Karsten Moran for The New York Times

How to make sense of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. shooting

Responses to an essay by Andrew Witty, the C.E.O. of UnitedHealth Group. Also: Threats to democracy, in Hungary and America; a check on Trump; avoiding taxes.

What the fascination with a C.E.O.’s killing reveals about this political era.

If only fixing it were as easy as finding someone to blame.

No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did.

Readers discuss the anger over health insurance set off by the killing of a C.E.O. Also: Gun safety laws; money in politics.

What other kind of company inspires this sort of hatred?

As a doctor, I’ve been on both sides of frustrating health care debacles.

It echoes another era of extreme inequality and extreme violence.