The attacker who killed a police officer and took three people hostage at a Pennsylvania hospital was identified Sunday, as authorities said he visited the hospital before.
Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, targeted the intensive care unit at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pa., according to York County District Attorney Tim Barker. Archangel-Ortiz knew someone receiving treatment in the ICU, authorities said.
Barker said Archangel-Ortiz “had contact” with ICU staff on his previous visit but did not elaborate, the York Daily Record reported. He had been to the hospital just days earlier.
On Saturday, Archangel-Ortiz returned with a bag full of zip ties and a semi-automatic handgun, police said. He shot and wounded three hospital staffers — a doctor, a nurse and a custodian — and took them hostage inside the ICU, cops said.
Hospital security staff immediately responded to the area but retreated after Archangel-Ortiz opened fire on them, according to the Daily Record. Numerous officers from throughout the area then descended on the hospital.
Cops encountered Archangel-Ortiz holding a female staffer at gunpoint with her hands bound, officials said. The officers engaged Archangel-Ortiz in a firefight, killing him. Archangel-Ortiz wounded two cops and killed a third, who was identified as Andrew Duarte, 30, of the West York Borough Police Department.
“Officer Duarte was one of the best of us,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a press conference. “He is to be commended for a life of service, albeit one cut too short.”
Duarte was previously a member of the Denver Police Department before moving to York, a 40,000-person city about 85 miles west of Philadelphia.
The doctor was grazed and not seriously wounded, the Daily Record reported. The nurse and custodian were both in stable condition Sunday, as were the two wounded officers.
With News Wire Services
