MIRAMAR, FLA. (WSVN) - Loved ones came together to remember a man who, authorities said, was killed during a rush hour shootout between police officers from multiple agencies and two jewelry store robbers who carjacked a UPS truck driver.
Friends, co-workers and family members gathered to say goodbye to Richard Cutshaw at Joseph A. Scarano Memorial Chapel in Pembroke Pines, Wednesday afternoon.
Cutshaw’s brother, Tom Cutshaw, described the 70-year-old as kind and engaging.
“I think, most of all, he was a good storyteller. He liked people, and people liked him,” he said.
Investigators said Cutshaw was killed on Dec. 5 while sitting in his car when gunfire erupted around him between police and the robbers at the intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road.
Police said the shootout was preceded by a 30-mile police chase that unfolded after the suspects, identified as Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, robbed Regent Jewelers on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Shortly after, they carjacked UPS driver Frank Ordonez and took him hostage as they fled the area in his delivery truck.
Both suspects and Ordonez were also killed in the gunfire exchange.
The shootout was addressed during a roundtable discussion in Miami, Wednesday morning.
Special Agent Troy Walker with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement led the conversation.
“We have an obligation to the community, and we also have an obligation to the law enforcement agencies that are involved,” he said.
Walker is working to determine what exactly happened during the chase and whether or not police could have done something to prevent Cutshaw and Ordonez from being killed.
“When I look at the victims, Mr. Cutshaw could have been my father, my uncle,” he said.
According to Walker, investigators believe up to 21 officers opened fire at the intersection.
“There were 195 rounds that were recovered on scene,” he said.
“Each officer has to be able to explain what threat they saw and then make that justification as to why they pulled the trigger a certain number of times,” said Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez.
Walker said four autopsies have been completed, but they still do not know whether the victims were shot and killed by the suspects or police.
“We’re in the process of doing that. That’s part of the forensics. That’s part of the examination,” he said.
FDLE is handling the investigation, and they aren’t the only ones asking questions. Cutshaw’s family has hired lawyers to represent them during this investigation.
“Bullets spraying across the intersection as if it was a war zone, but it wasn’t a war zone,” said Matt Morgan, one of the attorneys representing the family.
Morgan said he wants to know whether there was anything police could have done more of to prevent Cutshaw’s death.
“I can guarantee you that this particular fact pattern will be a case study for law enforcement, for decades to come, about what not to do when you’re in a chase on a busy intersection,” he said.
However, during the memorial service, loved ones focused on the good times they shared with Cutshaw, as they grapple with the reality that he is longer with them.
“You wake up every morning, and you think about how it happened, and you just, you can’t believe it,” said his brother.
FDLE officials have not specified how long their investigation will take.
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