Staffer Says Man Who Killed Police Officer, Held Hospital Workers Hostage Had Lost Loved One: 'He Was Simply Broken'

Days before a hostage situation turned deadly, a physician assistant says he spoke to the man who killed a police officer and wounded staff at a Pennsylvania hospital and told him his loved one had died.

A gunman held staff at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pa., hostage on Saturday, Feb. 22. West York Borough police officer Andre Duarte was killed in the shooting, while several staff members were also shot, according to police.

The suspected gunman identified as Diogenes Archangel Ortiz, 49, was killed by police. Authorities said he went straight to the ICU at UPMC told hold staff members hostage.

In a Facebook post, UPMC physician assistant Lester Mendoza, who works in pulmonary critical care, says he interacted with the suspected shooter days before.

“I spoke with the very man who did this act, interacting with him multiple days,” Mendoza wrote. “I was there when we delivered the worst news imaginable to him—that his loved one was gone. ‘I saw his devastation firsthand. In that moment, I truly did not see a monster. He was simply broken.”

In a news conference, York County District Attorney Timothy Barker said a gunman entered the hospital carrying a bag with a handgun and zip ties, according to WHP-TV.

The suspect shot three staff members, including a doctor who was “grazed” by a bullet, according to the district attorney. A fourth hospital worker was injured after falling during the incident.

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Barker said the suspect shot at three police officers, including Duarte, who was killed. The two others were struck and are in stable condition.

In his post, Mendoza said the healthcare industry is “broken,” writing that hospitals are understaffed with overworked staffers and that patients and their families are often left without mental health resources.

“I would have never imagined or expected [the suspect] to do something like this,” Mendoza wrote. “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.”