The Miami community mourns the death of the UPS driver killed in shootout

As the sun sank close to the horizon Monday, a UPS driver stopped his route at 5 p.m. in the right lane of Northwest 37th Avenue and stepped out of his truck for a moment of silence outside the Vior Funeral Home in Miami.

Another man wearing black stepped out of the funeral home and quietly sobbed with his head down on the trunk of a car behind the building. He buried his face in his arms for a few minutes before standing up to collect himself.

A stream of UPS drivers in brown uniforms arrived over several hours, along with several FedEx drivers.

Friends, family and the public gathered for the viewing of Frank Ordonez, the UPS driver who was taken hostage by armed robbers and killed during a shootout with police in Miramar on Thursday. Ordonez, a father of two young girls, was 27 years old.

Ordonez’s family welcomed the community to the wake in social media posts and statements to the media. The funeral home was packed through the evening, with some mourners parking across the street in the lot for the Magic City Casino.

Members of Ordonez’s family have publicly criticized actions by law enforcement officers in the wake of Ordonez’s death. Ordonez’s stepfather, Joe Merino, was vocal in his demand for answers the day after the shootout. Ordonez’s siblings took to social media to question the police response and mourn the loss of their brother.

On Monday, they grieved inside the funeral home, with a steady stream of mourners coming in to offer condolences. With emotions still raw, they asked a family friend to relay that they will soon address the media again, but it was too difficult Monday night.

A bystander, Rick Cutshaw, a 70-year-old union representative, was also killed in the crossfire. His services will be private, said his sister-in-law Helen Cutshaw. His union, OPEIU AFL-CIO, is dedicating its next meeting to Cutshaw. It will not be open to the public.

Members of the Teamsters Local 769, the union that represents UPS drivers, came in droves. Brown UPS trucks kept pulling in around the neighborhood. At one point, a UPS driver in uniform said goodbye to a colleague in the parking lot with words of advice.

“Be safe out there,” he said.

This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 10:20 PM.