Officer killed by a shooter who took hostages at a central Pennsylvania hospital, officials say

YORK, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania officials said a man entered a hospital’s intensive care unit and took staff members hostage before he was killed by police on Saturday. An officer also died in the shooting.

York County District Attorney Tim Barker said the man entered UPMC Memorial Hospital with a bag carrying a handgun and zip ties. He went straight to the ICU department, and fired the gun, striking three staff members, including a doctor, a nurse, and a custodian.

A responding officer was killed in a shootout, while two others were injured before the gunman was fatally shot.

The officer who died was identified as Andrew Duarte of the West York Borough Police Department. He was responding to a mutual aid call, the department posted on its Facebook page.

“We all have broken hearts and are grieving at his loss,” West York Borough Manager Shawn Mauck told The Associated Press.

Officials at UPMC Memorial in York said that no patients were injured.

Law enforcement is on the premises and is managing the situation, Susan Manko, vice president of public relations for UPMC, said in an emailed statement.

Duarte was a law enforcement veteran who joined the West York Borough Police Department in 2022 after five years with the Denver Police Department in Colorado, according to Duarte's 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.

“I have a type A personality and like to succeed in all that I do,” his LinkedIn profile said.

The hospital asked employees who were not scheduled to work Saturday to stay home. Families of patients arriving on site should report to the parking lot of the OSS building across the street from the hospital, Manko said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he is on the way to the hospital after being briefed on the shooting. He said the hospital is “secure.”

UPMC Memorial is a five-story, 104-bed hospital that opened in 2019 in York, a city of about 40,000 people known for its creation of York Peppermint Patties in 1940.