Funeral set for an officer killed while responding to a gunman in a Pennsylvania hospital

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A funeral service will be held later this week for a Pennsylvania police officer shot and killed while responding to a hospital intensive care unit where authorities said a gunman had shot three hospital employees and taken staff members hostage last weekend.

West York Patrolman Andrew Duarte’s funeral Friday at a church in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, will be livestreamed but not open to the general public.

An autopsy Monday concluded his death was caused by being shot in the torso on Saturday inside UPMC Memorial Hospital in York. Duarte, 30, was declared dead shortly after noon that day at a different hospital, where he was taken for treatment.

The service will be limited to his family members and friends, sworn members of law enforcement, dignitaries and special guests, according to a news release issued by his family and the West York Borough Police Department. A police funeral procession will precede the service.

Authorities said Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, brought a gun and zip ties to the intensive care unit before responding officers shot and killed him. Five others were wounded — officers from two other local police agencies, a doctor, a nurse and a member of the hospital’s custodial staff.

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The coroner’s office said Archangel-Ortiz lived just a couple blocks away from the police department where Duarte worked. His autopsy is planned for Tuesday.

York County District Attorney Tim Barker said Saturday that Archangel-Ortiz appeared to have had recent contact with the ICU “for a medical purpose involving another person.” Officials have not spoken publicly about that incident or disclosed his motive.

“It is absolutely clear and beyond any and all doubt that the officers were justified in taking their action and using deadly force,” Barker told reporters Saturday. “Quite frankly, they needed to use deadly force because by doing so, they potentially saved even more lives, even as they lost one of their own.”

Duarte began work for West York in 2022 after five years with the Denver Police Department, according to his LinkedIn profile. He described receiving a “hero award” in 2021 from Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his work in impaired driving enforcement for the state of Colorado. His family directed memorial donations to groups that combat drunk driving.

An obituary posted Monday called Duarte a hero to his family and community. It noted that he had been born in Oakland, California, and had a degree in criminal justice and police science from California University of Pennsylvania. His interests included photography, guitar, hiking and traveling. Survivors include his parents and his girlfriend.

Northern York County Regional Police Chief David Lash said Sunday that one of his officers who was wounded in the shooting had been released from hospital treatment and was expected to fully recover. Lash thanked state troopers who applied a tourniquet to the wounded officer’s leg and provided life-saving care until he could be transported.

The other wounded officer, a member of the Springettsbury Township Police Department, has also been released from hospital care and is recovering at home, Chief Todd King said in a Facebook post on Monday. It is likely that officer will recover fully, King said.

The shooting was the latest episode of a wave of gun violence in recent years that has swept through U.S. hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats. Such attacks have contributed to making health care one of the nation’s most dangerous fields, with workers suffering more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.