Altoona has been accorded deserved praise but also has been inflicted with an undeserved black eye over the Luigi Mangione case — Mangione being the suspect in the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Dec. 4 outside a New York City hotel.

The latter is totally without cause, saddening people here who still firmly believe that murder is not a good thing.

But reject any thought that Mangione, from a prominent Baltimore real estate family, is destined to rot and die in prison, a forgotten man, if he is convicted of the heinous New York crime. Considering the current mood within America, Mangione, again if he is convicted, more likely will be remembered by many people in the way Theodore J. Kaczynski, Berkeley math professor-turned-recluse, still is remembered as the Unabomber for his numerous crimes — and also still recalled fondly by some individuals for what prompted them.

It can be said that there is a distant similarity between Kaczynski and Mangione, although some people will reject that notion. The passage of time will deliver a “verdict” on that theory.

Kaczynski, between 1978 and 1995, killed three people and injured 23 others in his nationwide bombing campaign believed to have been spawned by an effort to attract attention to what he felt was the erosion of human freedom and dignity by modern technologies.

The current belief regarding Mangione, as reported in the Dec. 10 special edition published by the Baltimore Evening Sun, is that the suspect from the New York City crime was angry about what he called “parasitic” insurance companies.

It only can be speculated whether Mangione, if he had not been caught, would eventually have perpetrated other similar crimes to further advance his anger and message. Again, that only is on the premise of a conviction for the Dec. 4 crime; he is innocent until proven guilty.

Judging what has been happening on social media since Mangione’s capture at the Plank Road McDonald’s restaurant, much anger is gripping America over the conduct and decision-making of health insurance companies. However, resorting to murder is not the right way to pursue reform.

Nor should the McDonald’s customer who alerted restaurant staffers to the presence of Mangione be accorded anger and contempt. Neither should the staffer or staffers who alerted police, based on the customer’s belief, nor the police who responded and effected Mangione’s arrest.

Would the people who now agree with the anger being directed at the McDonald’s customer, Plank Road employees working that day, and the police who demonstrated exemplary training and conduct in making the arrest successfully and without a potentially deadly scenario involving who-knows-who have embraced such a questionable attitude in 2002 against the motorist who helped Maryland state police halt what had become known as the Beltway Sniper Attacks?

That series of crimes in the Washington, D.C., area claimed 10 lives and resulted in injuries to three other people.

At the time of their arrest, the two men responsible for the Beltway area incidents were traveling on a route that could have brought them to Breezewood and, perhaps, to Altoona.

Did Mangione have other criminal intentions?

Prior to resorting to murder, Mangione, a well-educated young man with seemingly unlimited promise ahead, apparently chose to throw that great potential away — just like Kaczynski, regarding his career.

The description “Mad Genius” became tied to Kaczynski.

Those who now consider Mangione a hero — and there are many such people — need to rethink that attitude.