NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - With heavy hearts, loved ones gathered to say goodbye to the UPS driver who lost his life during a rush hour shootout in Miramar after, police said, he was carjacked and abducted by two armed robbers.
Family, friends and co-workers embraced one another at the UPS Customer Center in Northwest Miami-Dade, Sunday night, as they remembered Frank Ordonez.
The memorial was put together by Ordonez’s fellow employees.
7News cameras captured a box truck with a photo of Ordonez in uniform and the message, “Heaven gained a new angel, Frank Ordonez.”
Speaking at the event, his stepfather, Joe Merino, said he and his family won’t rest until justice is served.
“We want justice, justice for Frank,” he said.
Cameras also captured a sports car covered with flowers, a teddy bear and messages written on UPS slips.
Police said the deadly chain of events began when the armed suspects went to rob Regent Jewelers, located along Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, Thursday afternoon.
At some point, investigators said, bullets flew, and the suspects, identified as Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, took off.
A few blocks away, police said, they carjacked Ordonez’s UPS truck and forced him inside, abducting him, and eventually leading police on a cross-county chase.
That pursuit came to a stop along Miramar Parkway, where shots were fired between police and the men during rush hour traffic.
Alexander, Hill and Ordonez were shot and killed, along with an innocent bystander, whom police identified as 70-year-old Richard Cutshaw.
Ordonez was 27 years old.
“This feels like a bad dream that eventually you’re going to wake up from,” said Merino at the memorial, “and the bad dream, I’m still in a dream.”
Days later, as Ordonez’s family continues to mourn and demand answers, a makeshift memorial sits near the spot where this father of two girls lost his life and never came home.
“I don’t want this to die down. I don’t want this swept under the rug,” said Merino. “I want justice for Frank.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe page for Ordonez. To donate, click here.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.