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   From: american-nazis@napo.org   
      
   (CNN)The scene was a nightmare: After a long, televised police   
   chase of a hijacked UPS truck ground to a halt at a jammed South   
   Florida intersection, gunfire erupted seemingly from everywhere   
   Thursday evening — with vehicles stopped at a traffic light   
   serving as officers' impromptu shields.   
      
   Gunfire exploded toward and from the truck. A bystander crouched   
   on a median, then scrambled away as officers closed in.   
      
   In the end, four people were shot dead at the intersection in   
   Miramar, authorities said, including two robbery suspects, a   
   bystander, and hostage UPS driver Frank Ordonez, a man who   
   relatives say had been substituting for a colleague who had   
   called out from work that day.   
      
   The slain robbers and hijackers were Lamar Alexander, 41, and   
   Ronnie Jerome Hill, 41, both of Miami-Dade County, the FBI said.   
      
   The bystander who was killed was Richard Steven Cutshaw,   
   according to the Broward County, Florida, medical examiner's   
   office.   
      
   The union field representative was driving home from work when   
   he was killed in the crossfire, said Don Slesnick, a lawyer for   
   the Office and Professional Employees International Union where   
   Cutshaw worked.   
      
   Slesnick said Cutshaw represented more 2,500 government   
   employees in Broward County and Naples, helping them with   
   insurance benefits, assignments, pay issues and negotiating   
   contracts.   
      
   Known as "Rick" to his coworkers, Slesnick said he was good-   
   humored and pleasant who was loved by all who worked with him.   
      
   "He fought with a positive attitude," Slesnick said.   
      
   The cause and manner of death of the four deceased were not   
   released due to the active criminal investigation, the medical   
   examiner said.   
      
   Numerous questions about the chase and its finale remain,   
   including who shot Ordonez and Cutshaw.   
      
   Ordonez's stepfather said he can't understand why his stepson is   
   dead.   
      
   "For this to happen, I think, is just unnecessary," Joe Merino   
   told NBC's "Today" show Friday morning. "Other tactics should   
   have been applied, and they weren't, so when I say the word   
   devastated, it's an understatement."   
      
   A police union official, meanwhile, said that officers handled   
   the situation well, given the circumstances.   
      
   "If you shoot at us, we are going to engage. We are going to   
   stop the threat," Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida   
   Police Benevolent Association, said Friday. "When bad guys are   
   shooting at you, how do you negotiate?"   
      
   The chase began with a jewelry store robbery   
      
   The incident began with a jewelry store robbery late Thursday   
   afternoon in Coral Gables, near Miami, authorities said.   
      
   Police got a call about a silent holdup alarm at 4:17 p.m. from   
   Regent Jewelers in Coral Gables, city Police Chief Edward J.   
   Hudak Jr. said. At least one woman was hurt in the robbery,   
   police said.   
      
   The woman had surgery and was conscious Friday and "doing well,"   
   Hudak said. Police Director Juan Perez said she suffered a wound   
   to the head.   
      
   The suspects then hijacked the UPS truck, took the driver   
   hostage and sped away.   
      
   Soon after, police received a call of gunshots -- believed to   
   have been fired by the escaping suspects, Hudak said -- at Coral   
   Gables City Hall, just within sight of the jeweler's shop. A   
   bullet struck the building, which went into lockdown.   
      
   A long chase on a highway and city streets   
      
   The UPS truck then fled over at least 25 miles, through city   
   streets and along an interstate. Police caught its trail, and   
   some of their pursuit unfolded on local television as news   
   helicopters captured the scenes from above.   
      
   Police radioed that gunfire occasionally erupted from the truck   
   — its back doors sometimes open — even as police chased it on or   
   near I-75, CNN affiliate WSVN reported.   
      
   The truck hopped curbs, spun U-turns and maneuvered around other   
   vehicles and police.   
      
   Emergency vehicles trailed the hijacked truck, stretching at one   
   point for about half a mile.   
      
   Then, as the truck approached the intersection of Miramar   
   Parkway and Flamingo Road in Miramar around 5:35 p.m., the chase   
   ground to a halt.   
      
   Traffic — including a light-colored SUV and, behind it, a dark-   
   colored SUV — was stopped, and the UPS truck suddenly was boxed   
   in. More than 40 emergency vehicles, their lights flashing,   
   queued up in its wake.   
      
   Shots rang out as officers closed in   
      
   Police officers left their vehicles and approached the UPS   
   truck, weapons drawn. They used cars — their own and those that   
      
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