Mother of officer slain in Pennsylvania hospital hostage shooting mourns son with ‘warrior heart’
YORK, Pa. — The unease growing inside Nancy Duarte Matarese on Saturday quickly blossomed into full-on dread as she found herself being escorted to a small family room inside WellSpan York Hospital. It was a facility located not far from UPMC Memorial Hospital, where her son, police officer Andrew Duarte, had been involved in a shooting just hours earlier.
“I thought to myself, ‘This isn’t good, because if he was still with us, they would take me to him,’” Duarte Matarese said.
“I had the feeling that Andrew had been called to his eternal home with the Lord, and that he wasn’t here with us anymore.”
Her worst fears were confirmed. Andrew had been killed following an encounter with a gunman who had entered the hospital, located just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and had taken hostages before a shooting that left several people injured.
Not quite 24 hours later, Duarte Matarese found herself in front of the West York Borough Police Department visiting a memorial of flowers, candles and balloons set up by community members. It was there that she remembered the “amazing young man” who was also her only child.
“He had a warrior heart and a warrior spirit,” Duarte Matarese said in an interview with NBC News.
The alleged shooter, Diogenes Archangel Ortiz, 49, entered the facility with a bag containing a handgun and zip ties and headed straight to the ICU, authorities say.
York County District Attorney Tim Baker said he believes this was intentional.
“Diogenes Archangel Ortiz, did appear to have contact previously in the week with the ICU for a medical purpose involving another individual,” he said.
Other residents of the community are also reeling in the wake of the tragedy.
“[I] got a text from my wife who works in the ICU. And she said that she loved me and that she didn’t know if she was going to make it out,” Tad Pequignot said.
Mary Eck has lived in York her entire life and stopped by the memorial Sunday afternoon.
“A hospital? You would think you’d be safe, but it’s just not anymore,” she said.