A calm Thursday afternoon on Miracle Mile was brought to a halt by the sound of gunfire at around 4:20PM
At 4:15PM, two armed individuals entered Regent Jewelers at 386 Miracle Mile to perform an armed robbery. Coral Gables Police was alerted via a silent alarm and within 90 seconds, the first officer arrived on the scene. The officer had been conducting a traffic stop a block away and responded on foot.
The suspects, now identified by the FBI as Lamar Alexander (41) and Ronnie Jerome Hill (41), then had a shootout at Regent Jewelers and fired shots as they fled the scene.
A female employee of the Jewelry store was injured, her injuries are not life threatening.
A bullet also pierced a window at Coral Gables City Hall in the office of City Clerk Billy Urquia, flying inches over his head. Urquia was unharmed. This lead to a lock down at City Hall.
The suspects fled the scene in a U-Haul truck and exited the vehicle on the 1200th block of Mariana Avenue. They then hijacked a UPS truck with its driver, Frank Ordoñez.
Gables Insider has obtained video of a delivery made by Ordoñez on Mariana street at 4:53PM.
The suspects led Police in a high-speed chase through Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, which ended at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Miramar Parkway in Miramar, with a shootout that left the two suspects dead, along with the UPS driver and an innocent bystander, Union Representative Richard Cutshaw (70), who was in his vehicle at the intersection.
UPS shared the following statement on its social media: “We are deeply saddened to learn a UPS service provider was a victim of this senseless act of violence. We extend our condolences to the family and friends of our employee and the other innocent victims involved in the incident. We appreciate law enforcement’s service and will cooperate with the authorities as they continue the investigation.
The FBI has taken over the investigation, with cooperation of Coral Gables Police, Miami-Dade County Police, Pembroke Pines Police, Miramar Police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Miami-Dade County Police Department determined that 13 of the 19 officers who discharged their weapons at the scene were their officers and they have all been placed on administrative leave pending the FDLE investigation.
Seems a more prudent approach to deal with this kind of situation!
You can catch them the next day! And no one dies!
What a tragedy. Perhaps it is better to allow the thieves to escape than engage in a deadly chase with innocent people being killed.