The UPS driver killed during a wild police shootout in Florida was covering the shift for another employee, his distraught brother said.
Frank Ordonez, a 27-year-old father of two young girls, was working someone else’s route when two robbery suspects took over his truck Thursday afternoon in Coral Gables. Ordonez was later killed in Miramar along with the suspects and another motorist following a 20-mile-long police chase that unfolded live on local newscasts.
Ordonez’s brother, Roy, told CNN that he was a devoted father to his 3- and 6-year-old girls who was “outgoing and happy” most of the time.
“You never knew when he was sad,” Roy Ordonez said. “What Frank really liked to do is spend time with his daughters.”
Another brother, Luis, told the Associated Press that he saw the moment his brother was gunned down from behind.
“I saw on TV when he fell, and I knew it was him,” Luis Ordonez said. “I saw how they killed my brother.”
The police response to the hijacking was “insane,” Luis Ordonez said.
“Instead of talking to them, they just started shooting,” he continued. “I know they [the robbery suspects] were shooting back at them, but it was easy to just cover behind police cars. They could have just covered themselves.”
Asked whether Frank Ordonez or a second victim were killed by police bullets, an FBI official balked during a news conference late Thursday.
“It is very, very early on in the investigation and it would be completely inappropriate to discuss that,” FBI Special Agent in Charge George Piro told reporters. “We have just begun to process the crime scene. As you can imagine, this is going to be a very complicated crime scene.”
A fundraising page set up in Ordonez’s memory by his brother Roy accused the cops of being “trigger happy” while calling for them to be held accountable.
“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,” the website read. “They could have killed many more people, could have been one of your loved ones.”
UPS officials, meanwhile, said in a statement that the company was “deeply saddened” by the “senseless act” of violence.
“We extend our condolences to the family and friends of our employee and the other innocent victims involved,” the statement read.
With Post wires
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