MIRAMAR, Fla. — The UPS driver killed in Thursday's police shootout after an armed robbery in South Florida has been identified as Frank Ordonez, according to CBS Miami.
He was a father to two girls. They are three and five years old, according to Ordonez's stepfather who told CBS Miami.
“He was still a kid to us. He was a home body. He was a family man. He had a 3 and 5 year old daughter he’s leaving behind. He always had a smile, never lost his temper. He did everything for his daughters,” said Joe Merino.
UPS tells CBS Miami he had been with the company for five years, but it was his first day driving the truck that the FBI says was hijacked Thursday by two armed men who robbed a Coral Gables jewelry store.
The suspects stole the UPS truck Ordonez was driving, took him hostage and sped away, Coral Gables police said.
The FBI says A bystander in a nearby car was also killed at the scene of the police shootout, after a chase that went 20 miles north to Miramar.
An FBI official says both robbers were shot and killed after firing at police.
News helicopters were following the chase and at least one showed the conclusion live, with one person falling out of the vehicle’s passenger side after several shots were fired. It was unclear if the shots were fired from inside the truck, from law enforcement who were moving in or some combination thereof. The fourth victim, in another car at the intersection, was “an innocent bystander,” Piro said.
“This is what dangerous people do to get away,” Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak said during a news conference. “And this is what people will do to avoid capture.”
A total of 19 officers, from five different agencies, fired into the carjacked UPS truck, a senior law enforcement source told CBS4 News.
“Where was SWAT, where was the sniper, where was the hostage negotiator?” he asked. “They disregard the hostage, they disregard the people around the scene, they went out there like the old west, they shot everybody,” Merino told CBS Miami about the way police handled the situation.
UPS spokesman David Graves said the company would cooperate with authorities.
“We are deeply saddened to learn a UPS service provider was a victim of this senseless act of violence,” Graves said in a statement. “We extend our condolences to the family and friends of our employee and the other innocent victims involved in this incident.”
“There’s no more Christmas here. There’s no more Christmas. Christmas is over for us. This is devastating,” said Merino.