Hero cop in chaotic PA hospital hostage situation was killed by friendly fire: officials

The hero cop in the Pennsylvania hostage situation in February was killed by friendly fire, cops said.

The same shotgun blast that killed Officer Andrew Duarte, 30, also killed gunman Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, who held his weapon to a hospital worker’s head and threatened to “blow her head off,” authorities said. 

Archangel-Ortiz didn’t shoot that woman but wounded a doctor, a nurse, a custodian, and two other officers leading up to the confrontation with police, York County District Attorney Tim Barker said at a press conference.

Barker said Archangel-Ortiz, 49, “unleashed a torrent of evil” when he entered the UMPC Memorial Hospital in York on Feb. 22 with a bag containing a 9mm Taurus handgun and zip ties in a suicidal thirst for revenge. 

Barker said he refused to use the term “friendly fire” because it was legally meaningless and it would be “shallow and trite.”

New details emerged as Barker released the findings of a two-month investigation into the hostage situation and shooting Wednesday. 

The bloody siege began when Archangel-Ortiz arrived at the hospital in an Uber from a nearby Walmart where he had just purchased zip ties, a knife, spray paint and lemonade. 

Archangel-Ortiz pretended he wanted to talk about the death of his girlfriend, then began taking hostages, Barker said. 

At 10:51 a.m., Duarte and another officer arrived at the hospital. 

Archangel-Ortiz told a hospital staffer, “It’s 11:02. Tell them they have until 11:25 or there are going to be bodies,” according to Barker.

During the middle of the standoff the perp called his brother. 

“Tell everybody I love them. This is what I want. This is how I’m going out,” Barker said he told his brother. 

Barker said Archangel-Ortiz shoved a hostage through the ICU doors with the gun pointed at her head. Police officers moved back, Barker said, and looked for “a clear and present opportunity to strike the actor and not strike the hostage.”  

An officer fired a shotgun blast at Archangel-Ortiz, Barker said, but two pellets struck Duarte, who was standing diagonally behind the officer holding a protective shield.

One pellet hit his right side under his protective vest, and another struck the left side in the mesh of his vest penetrated his chest. 

Police then opened fire, hitting Archangel-Ortiz between 15 and 20 times in his head, neck and torso, Barker said.

Barker grew emotional during his press conference as he described the senselessness of the attack and praised the heroism of the officers that had come to the rescue. 

“These heroes showed what it means to lay down your life with sacrificial love for all of those you serve,” he said. 

“They were willing to lay down their lives for every single person in that hospital.” 

“The hostage was not struck once,” Barker added. 

Duarte was the recipient of a hero award from MADD in Colorado when he was an officer in Denver for his work enforcing drunk driving. 

If Archangel-Ortiz lived, Barker said, he would have pursued  “a no-motive prosecution” and that the crazed gunman would have faced charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. 

Even though the Archangel-Ortiz did not shoot Duarte, he directly caused his death through his actions, Barker said.  

Duarte’s parents, Nancy Duarte Matarese and David Matarese, said they would not be seeking litigation in their son’s death, agreeing with Barker that the responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of Archangel-Ortiz. 

“He’s the person who came in with evil intentions,” the mother said.

In a heartbreaking video, the mother mourned Andrew and held up a piece of paper from a journal where her slain son had handwritten down the kind of man he wanted to be. 

“This is how he saw himself,” she said. 

“I am a warrior,” the list read. “I am part of a TEAM. I will never quit!”