MIRAMAR, FLA. (WSVN) - A moving memorial was held for a man killed in a shootout.
Family members gathered Monday night to honor the life of a UPS delivery driver.
It marks three years since he was killed during a standoff with police after two robbers hijacked his truck and led police on a chase, holding him hostage inside.
“Father God, we’re all here united today remembering Frank and how good he was,” said Ordonez’s sibling.
“We don’t want Frank to be forgotten and also we don’t want this to happen to any other families,” said Joe Marino, stepfather of Frank Ordonez.
Frank Ordonez was a UPS driver who was kidnapped after the armed robbery of a Coral Gables Jewelry store.
A police chase followed from Miami-Dade to Broward County, several police agencies responding as it unfolded live on the air.
Nineteen officers fired their weapons at the UPS truck on Miramar Parkway at Flamingo Road in Miramar.
Ordonez was one of two innocent men caught in the crossfire.
Now, Ordonez’s family is caught in between grief and the fight for accountability.
“We lost the civil case a few months ago because of sovereign immunity, and now we’re dealing with the criminal side,” said Marino.
The family of Ordonez has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against six police agencies they say were involved in the December 2019 standoff.
It alleges those agencies failed to follow protocols and didn’t do enough to avoid the use of force.
The Broward County State Attorney’s office released a statement to 7News: “FDLE turned over its investigation to the state attorney’s office on Wednesday September 15, 2021. The investigation and review are continuing. The prosecutor, assistant state attorney Chuck Morton, has been in contact with the families of the deceased victims.”
“Hopefully we’ll be able to have some closure and some justice,” said Marino.
Ordonez’s UPS family also joined the annual gathering at this painful place as a way to lift the family up.
His mother clings to hope and finds glimpses of her son in his young daughters.
“She sees Frank in their eyes and it lights up her eyes. She has a moment of happiness but the girls miss their dad,” said Marino. “You’re never prepared for such a thing, to be able to talk to the girls and explain their dad isn’t coming home, but yet those 21 officers went back to their families that night. Frank never made it back.”
The family has said they are continuing to seek justice and will not rest. They also want to ensure that they want no other family to endure what they have gone through.
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