YORK, Pa — The gunman who held intensive care unit staff hostage at UPMC Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania before killing a police officer and injuring five other people Saturday believed that more could have been done to save his wife, who was on life support for a terminal illness, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The video featured is from a previous report.
Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, was removed from the hospital by security the previous night after becoming irate and emotionally overwrought following a diagnosis that there was no other treatment available for his wife, the official said. It is not clear whether she has died.
York County District Attorney Tim Barker said at a news conference Saturday that Archangel-Ortiz had “contact previously in the week in the ICU for a medical purpose involving another individual,” but his office has declined to provide additional information.
Archangel-Ortiz returned to the hospital Saturday morning, carrying a backpack with a firearm, zip ties and duct tape, and held staff members hostage before being killed in a shootout with police.
“This isn’t just about one tragic event – it’s about a system that is crumbling under neglect,” according to Lester Mendoza, a physician assistant specializing in pulmonary critical care at UPMC, who says he spoke with the gunman several times while his loved one was receiving care at the hospital.
“I was there when we delivered the worst news imaginable to him-that his loved one was gone,” Mendoza said in a Facebook post Sunday. “I saw his devastation firsthand. In that moment, I truly did not see a monster. He was simply broken.”
Mendoza shared his perspective on issues plaguing the health care system, citing understaffed hospitals and overworked employees, as well as expensive medicines and supplies and long wait times for care.
“I would have never imagined or expected him to do something like this. But grief, exhaustion, isolation, and a lack of mental health and social support services create cracks that people fall through. And when they do, the consequences can be catastrophic,” wrote Mendoza.
“While people will look for someone to blame, the reality is this: the system is failing all of us. Healthcare is broken,” Mendoza said.
No patients were injured in the shooting, Susan Manko, a spokesperson for UPMC Memorial told CNN.
An intensive care unit doctor, nurse and custodian suffered gunshot wounds, and a fourth employee was injured in a fall, according to Barker. As of Sunday, they were “medically stable and progressing in their recovery,” the hospital said in a statement.
The gunman shot three officers, killing one who was later identified as West York Borough Police Department Officer Andrew Duarte.
The 30-year-old officer’s death was ruled a homicide, the York County Coroner’s Office said in a news release posted to social media on Monday. Duarte died after being shot in the torso, the news release said.
A service celebrating Duarte’s life is set for Friday, Feb. 28, at Living Word Community Church in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, according to an obituary published in The York Dispatch on Monday. In addition to his parents, Duarte is survived by his girlfriend and several extended family members, the obituary said.
The Pennsylvania State Police are leading the investigation with the assistance of the York County District Attorney’s Office.
A spokesperson for the state police said no additional information will be released until the investigation is completed, but said all details of the incident will be investigated.
