A decade before hospital shooting, UPMC gunman faced protection ...

Show Caption

Hide Caption

A prayer for community love

A prayer for community love is given during a candlelight vigil honoring fallen West York Borough Police Officer Andrew Duarte, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025.

Nearly a decade before Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz held UPMC Memorial Hospital ICU staff at gunpoint, the 49-year-old man was the subject of a protection from abuse filing in a domestic dispute.

It remains unclear what motivated Saturday's incident, which resulted in the deaths of Archangel-Ortiz and West York Police Officer Andrew Duarte. A physicians assistant at the hospital reported having delivered devastating news to Archangel-Ortiz in the days before the man returned and opened fire.

Court records show that Archangel-Ortiz had no felony convictions prior to Saturday's shooting. So far, no relatives of the man could be reached for comment.

He was involved in a domestic dispute in 2016 that was preceded by a protection from abuse filing, according to court documents. The case was resolved as a summary offense with some charges sealed under Pennsylvania’s clean slate law, according to court documents.

>> Please consider subscribing to support local journalism. 

Archangel-Ortiz also picked up a traffic ticket, issued by West York police, two weeks before the hospital shootings.

York County District Attorney Tim Barker alleged Archangel-Ortiz held medical personnel and other staff at gunpoint in the intensive care unit of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Memorial Hospital, and that he shot and injured three hostages before police from 11 area agencies responded.

Officer dead, five others shot before gunman killed in hospital hostage incident

West York Borough Police Officer Andrew Duarte dead, 2 more officers and 3 hospital staff shot in hostage incident at hospital hostage incident in York, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025.

As the situation unfolded, with Barker saying police tried to dialogue with him, Archangel-Ortiz allegedly came out of the ICU holding a ziptied worker at gupoint.

Officers opened fire, killing Archangel-Ortiz, Barker said.

MORE: Support for slain West York officer pours in as community grapples with UPMC Memorial Hospital shooting

MORE: Ocean City PD was grieving the loss of one former officer when it lost another hours later: West York's Officer Duarte

MORE: Motive in UPMC Memorial Hospital shooting still unclear, but officials say man had recent contact with ICU

West York Borough Officer Andrew Duarte was also shot and killed in the incident.

Two other officers, one from Northern York County Regional Police and the other from Springettsbury Township, were shot as well and injured.

Barker said the injured officers were in stable condition. UMPC reported the injured workers as in stable condition as well.

One man, identifying as a UPMC physician assistant, indicated on Facebook that Archangel-Ortiz was distraught over the death of a loved one at the hospital some days before.

Barker said police were justified in killing Archangel-Ortiz. He indicated more details about the shootings could be released in the coming days as an investigation continues.

Prior to this, the extent of Archangel-Ortiz’s history in county court system appeared to revolve around a couple situations in 2016.

A petition for a PFA order was filed that July by a woman in Dallastown, and a temporary order was granted, court documents show.

>> Please consider subscribing to support local journalism. 

Then that October, about a week before a judge acted on a final PFA order, Archangel-Ortiz was arrested after York County Regional police (then operating as York Area Regional) responded to an apartment in Dallastown, court and charging documents show.

An officer spoke to a woman who alleged Archangel-Ortiz struck her with a wine glass and cut her. Police alleged Archangel-Ortiz was drunk at the time, the charging affidavit shows.

The document identified him as having an address in York City at the time.

Archangel-Ortiz spent close to two weeks at York County Prison while held on an initial $15,000 bail before he could post bond for his release.

He also faced a contempt for violation of an order case that was filed with his arrest presumably resulting from violating the PFA.

Along with his jail release, a judge also gave Archangel-Ortiz six months of probation in the contempt case, court documents show.

He allegedly violated the probation somehow in March 2017, and he was sent back to jail on a 3-6-month sentence. Court documents indicate he opted to serve out the maximum six months.

MORE: Wrightsville drama likely headed to the courts as GOP council members push to abolish voting wards

MORE: York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow withdraws from mayoral race

MORE: 'Unconstitutional compelled speech': Eastern York advances anti-LGBTQ+ policy

In that time, Archangel-Ortiz also pleaded guilty to physical harassment as a summary offense in in the domestic case in July 2017, court documents show.

After his release, he seemed to have issues over paying off costs and fines from the cases. Filings from the PFA case indicate an outstanding amount was resolved in 2019.

Portions of Archangel-Ortiz’s domestic case were apparently sealed some time later.

The charging documents had some redactions, including to a section listing three other apparent charges on top of the harassment count.

Staff at the clerk’s office said they were “clean slated” and no longer public. That indicated Archangel-Ortiz went through a sealing process under Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law that was passed in 2019.

Beyond the domestic situation, Archangel-Ortiz had no further history with the court system until this month, according to court information.

A West York officer ticketed him for driving on a suspended license Feb. 13, court documents show.

The hostage situation and shootings then erupted at the hospital over the weekend.

After he was shot, the 30-year-old Duarte, of York Township, was taken down to WellSpan York Hospital. The York County Coroner's Office said he died there from multiple "ballistic injuries of the torso," following an autopsy Monday.

Mourning for Officer Duarte remains underway. Flowers, photos and messages decorate the West York police headquarters’ doorstep, and a candlelight vigil was held Saturday.

 Local businesses plan to help raise money to support his family.

The police department is further directing people to a couple of avenues if they wish to contribute money directly.

Online donations in the form of credit card payments can be made through www.YorkCountySafetyCollab.org/donate, the police department said.

The page has fields to fill out to make the donations. On dropdown menu titled “Project Designation,” select Officer Andrew Duarte for where to direct funds.

People can also mail checks to the department at: West York Borough, 1381 W. Poplar St., West York, PA, 17404, care of Officer Duarte Memorial Fund.

>> Please consider subscribing to support local journalism. 

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at aambrose@yorkdispatch.com.