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.
Betsy Small was visiting her mother on the third floor of UPMC when the incident occurred.
“I’d only been there maybe about 11 minutes and I heard the alarms going off,” she said.
Her mother, who is 77, was bedridden when the hospital went on lockdown. Small says she made sure the room was locked and then hid in the bathroom inside the room. She said she heard people crying and loud noises below her.
“With the school shootings and the hospital shootings … you do question your safety,” she said. Small says she wasn’t able to leave until about 4 p.m., when the building had been cleared.
As residents hope to return to a sense of normalcy, Duarte Matarese said she’s humbled by the response from both the community and officials.
“This is a little, tiny borough, a small, little community, and to have people come out, they don’t necessarily know him at all, but to show their support. I really, I really appreciate it.”
She said she was close with her son and he was always a joy to be with. She believed he was given unique talents to be an officer.
“I’m not surprised that he answered the call. I’m not surprised he was one of the ones in the front. He was a mighty warrior,” she added. “That’s Andrew.”
