Lawyers: Police fired first shots in rush-hour shootout
MIRAMAR — A witness has stepped forward to pin the blame on the cops for firing the first shots in a massive shootout last year that killed an innocent hostage and also left a second bystander and two robbers dead, according to lawyers for the family of the hostage.
The robbers in question had kidnapped a UPS driver on Dec. 5, 2019, and led the police on a wild, 20-mile chase from Coral Gables to Miramar. It ended in a volley of over 200 bullets in a crowded intersection during rush-hour afternoon traffic.
The witness stepping forward with new information was just a mere feet away from the shootout— hewas in his car at the intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Boulevard, ac-
cording to Michael Haggard, a lawyer for the family of Frank Ordonez, the slain UPS driver.
The man was driving a silver SUV and was stalled in traffic with dozens of other cars, according to Haggard.
An unmarked police sedan pulled up alongside and two officers hopped out, taking cover on his car.
The man told Haggard he heard silence for a few moments and then a barrage of bullets coming from the police. When the man came to retrieve his car the next day, he found a handful of bullet casings still lodged in his windshield.
Lawyers are not releasing the witness’s name. They said he does not know which agency the two officers near his car were from.
Haggard said the witness gave a recorded statementto police immediately after the Dec. 5 shootout. He said the witness came
forward to lawyers days after Ordonez’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in September.
The family of Richard Cutshaw, a 70-year-old man who was killed while sitting in his car during the shootout, has since joined Ordonez’s family in the lawsuit.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who is investigating the shooting, declined to comment on the witness’s statements. The agency also declined
to say whether it has interviewed him. “Our investigation remains active,” a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
While police reports say that the two suspects in the UPS truck had been firing at officers during the chase, no information has been released about who fired first when the truck finally made a stop at an intersection on Miramar Parkway.
In total, 20 police officers fromsix agencies fired shots that evening.
Ordonez’s family and the mother of his two daughters spoke about the new findings at a news conference Thursday afternoon, their first public statements since the shootout happened.
“Losing a child is not easy,” said Luz Apolimario, Ordonez’s mother. “Even worse when you see it on the television.”
She said she was watching the live telecast of the encounter that evening. It was only later that she realized her son was the one killed in the exchange.
“All I ask for is justice,” she said. “My son is not going to come back.”
Since the tragic incident, the police departments involved in the matter and the FDLE have remained mumon the subject.
All agencies have repeatedly declined to release basic information about the deadly encounter.