Ups Driver Taken Hostage. Truck Hijacked

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
I think the police had to do it this way to contain the situation. It sucks but a lot more people probably would have been killed/injured if one or both armed, unpredictable hijacking fools who ain't trying to go (back?) to jail were running through a freeway full of cars with people in them.
 

B_Phlyy

Pineapple Eating Unicorn
I read the robber shot at the police and the police shot up the UPS van. The robber, UPS driver, and innocent bystander are dead. Also, heard on talk radio UPS drivers are being robbed in other states as well :mad:.

Holiday delivery season is the most dangerous time for all delivery drivers (UPS, FedEx, etc.). The trucks are tracked and insured but the packages inside of them usually aren't. Some of those trucks could easily have $500,000 of merchandise in them at a given time. A thief could take the truck, drive a few miles away, and empty the packages to sell on the streets or internet.

This situation sounds like the robbery was planned to only hit the jewelry store and their getaway ride was any available vehicle they could get in. Maybe the were counting on a hostage under the belief cops wouldn't shoot if they had a civilian.
 

Southernbella.

Well-Known Member
Holiday delivery season is the most dangerous time for all delivery drivers (UPS, FedEx, etc.). The trucks are tracked and insured but the packages inside of them usually aren't. Some of those trucks could easily have $500,000 of merchandise in them at a given time. A thief could take the truck, drive a few miles away, and empty the packages to sell on the streets or internet.

This situation sounds like the robbery was planned to only hit the jewelry store and their getaway ride was any available vehicle they could get in. Maybe the were counting on a hostage under the belief cops wouldn't shoot if they had a civilian.

I didn't know the packages weren't insured. Either way, the value of the packages is far lower than the millions the city is gonna have to pay out to the families.
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
This situation sounds like the robbery was planned to only hit the jewelry store and their getaway ride was any available vehicle they could get in. Maybe the were counting on a hostage under the belief cops wouldn't shoot if they had a civilian.
Pretty much. These dudes didn't target the UPS truck. That they took hostages in the first place instead of just the truck upped the ante for what they might have done if they got out of the truck.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
^^ and he was filling in for someone else's route at that! While I believe he became collateral damage, based on how the police handled the situation, that was disturbing and I'm even side-eyeing the whole thing...something is off about the story.
But my heart goes out to this man's family and friends. The holidays are the worst time to lose a loved one and that 5yr old's Daddy won't be around for Christmas. Truly sad..
 
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LdyKamz

Well-Known Member
I wasn't going to comment but I just watched the short clip and were the cops really using that car for cover with innocent civilians inside? Seriously? And did the hijackers kill themselves and the driver or was the police responsible for the deaths?
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
Cousins With Criminal Histories Identified As Robbery Suspects Killed In South Florida Shootout

CBSMIAMI (Miami) – The FBI has identified the two armed robbers who were killed Thursday after police say they ripped off a jewelry store, stole a UPS truck and kidnapped the driver, then led police a pursuit through two counties which led to a deadly shootout.

They are Lamar Alexander, 41, and Ronnie Jerome Hill, 41, both of Miami-Dade County, according to the FBI.

CBS4 News spoke to Alexander’s brother, Corey Smith who said about his brother, “Make better choices in life. Your decisions affect more than just you.”


(Source: Family Photo)

Smith says Alexander had three children.

The men, who are cousins, both have criminal histories.

Court records show Alexander was sentenced to probation for a 1996 robbery and 1997 burglary. Five arrests in the 2000’s resulted in no convictions before he served a lengthy stretch in prison for a 2008 armed robbery conviction in southwest Florida, gaining his release in 2017.


(Courtesy: Florida Department of Corrections)

Florida Department of Corrections records show Hill served time in prison twice: in the 1990s on burglary and robbery convictions and more recently for five burglary-related convictions.

Naomi Hill, the aunt of both suspects, said Alexander was “a good boy — he had changed his life around.” She said he was married with three children and working for a garbage-collection company.


(Courtesy: Florida Department of Corrections)

April Wyche, the sister of Ronnie Hill, said he was the father of two young children, one with special needs, and was working as a driver for a cabinetry company. She said she has no idea why he would have committed the robbery, saying he could have turned to her or their mother for help if needed. She wanted to apologize to the victims’ families.

“No words can express how truly sorry we are,” Wyche said, weeping. “We are praying for them.”

Alexander, Hill, UPS driver Frank Ordonez, and innocent driver Richard Cutshaw, were all killed in the shootout which took place in a busy intersection in Miramar.

Cutshaw was a union representative who was stopped in his car ahead of the UPS truck.

“I said that looks like mister Rick’s car the day before I was at his house talking to him,” Shaw’s neighbor, Lincoln Hirvela says he was helping him with pension paperwork.

Cutshaw was a giving person. “I don’t think of him as a friend he was more like a brother.”

Cutshaw’s brother tells us he is survived by his 99-year-old mother and five brothers and sisters.

The incident began about 20 miles south during a robbery at Regent jewelry store in Coral Gables. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots that killed Ordonez or Cutshaw.

In Coral Gables, police said a jewelry store worker was also injured.
 
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