UPS drivers arrive in uniform at funeral home after colleague was taken hostage, shot and killed

Family and friends of a UPS driver who was killed in a shootout between Florida police and robbery suspects who had hijacked his delivery truck, honored the slain man Monday.

Loved ones filed by Frank Ordonez’s open casket at a Miami funeral home to pay respects to the 27-year-old driver. 

Some UPS employees showed up in the brown company uniform to express condolences to Ordonez’s family. 

Other UPS drivers pulled their delivery trucks over beside the road to observe a minute of silence for their coworker, according to the union Teamsters Local 769.

A woman appeared emotional outside the Florida venue

Frank Ordonez’s open casket at a Miami funeral home saw loved ones pay respects Monday

UPS drivers arrived at Vior Funeral Home in Miami, Monday to attend the viewing of Frank Ordonez, the UPS driver who was taken hostage by armed robbers and killed during a shootout

UPS drivers arrived at Vior Funeral Home in Miami, Monday to attend the viewing of Frank Ordonez, the UPS driver who was taken hostage by armed robbers and killed during a shootout

On Sunday night at a UPS Customer Center, relatives and friends gathered for a vigil, lit candles and wrote messages on UPS slips they stuck to a car. 

UPS workers abroad have also joined in to express support- one group from London tweeted a photo showing uniformed workers holding up letters that together spelled #ONE UPS and RIP Frank Ordonez.

More than a dozen officers from four agencies had converged Thursday on the UPS truck at a busy South Florida intersection during rush hour, taking cover behind the vehicles of people stopped at a red light amid bursts of gunfire. 

The 27-year-old UPS driver and another motorist stopped at the light, Richard Cutshaw, 70, were killed along with the suspects.

Other UPS drivers pulled their delivery trucks over beside the road to observe a minute of silence for their coworker

Other UPS drivers pulled their delivery trucks over beside the road to observe a minute of silence for their coworker

The shooting is being investigated by the state agency in part because it involved four police agencies and more than a dozen officers. 

The 23-mile high-speed chase began after a jewelry store robbery in Coral Gables, where a woman was struck in the head by a ricocheting bullet. 

Authorities said 41-year-old cousins Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill fled the store, hijacked Ordonez’s UPS truck and led police on a chase on Interstate 75. 

The truck got off the interstate and drove into Miramar before getting stuck at a busy intersection.

Records show that both men have extensive felony criminal records, and that Alexander had just been released from prison on an armed robbery conviction.

Ordonez was on his first day of work as a UPS driver when the fatal carnage unfolded, and his brother told CNN that he was covering the route of a driver who had called out sick that day, a common first assignment for rookie UPS drivers. 

When the armed criminals became stuck in traffic in Broward County and again opened fire on police, 19 officers from multiple agencies returned fire, shooting some 200 times at the stolen truck. 

The chase and final shootout were broadcast live on television, including the moment when one of the men tumbled out of the truck, mortally wounded.  

‘My brother frank ordonez was killed by police officers on 12/5/2019, when two robbers hijacked the USP truck he was driving,’ Roy Ordonez posted on a GoFundMe page that raised more than 10 times the $20,000 goal. 

‘They kidnapped my brother and took him on a high speed chase, when they came to a stop he was gun down like a criminal by the Florida police.

‘He didn’t deserve to die the way he did, he was just going to work to provide for his two little girls, which he loved so much. which are now left without a father… frank leaves behind two daughters with the ages of 3 and 6.’

There was an open casket to pay respects to the 27-year-old driver killed in a shootout between Florida police and robbery suspects who hijacked his truck. Ronnie Hill, left, and Lamar Alexander, right, are pictured

There was an open casket to pay respects to the 27-year-old driver killed in a shootout between Florida police and robbery suspects who hijacked his truck. Ronnie Hill, left, and Lamar Alexander, right, are pictured

It was not immediately clear who fired the fatal bullets that killed the two innocent men. 

The family asks for help raising money for a lawyer, to cover the funeral cost and to help his little daughters school costs. 

‘His oldest daughter Hailey sees a speech therapist which UPS payed a potion of,’ the brother said, adding: ‘PLEASE SHARE AND MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF TRIGGER HAPPY POLICE OFFICERS. they could have killed many more people, could have been one of your loved ones. please don’t let my brothers death be for nothing. police need to be held accountable.’

News coverage included videos taken by motorists.  

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement appealed Monday for anyone who witnessed or has video of the shootout between police and the hijackers of a UPS truck to contact the agency. 

Call FDLE’s Miami officer at 786-336-1197 with information. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk