CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Frank Ordoñez’s daughters, ages 6 and 4, miss their dad. His mother, Luz Apolimario, and his daughters' mother, Jasmine Martinez, said the girls need him.
Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Hill targeted a jewelry store and kidnapped Ordoñez on Dec. 5 in Coral Gables to flee in his UPS truck. There was a chase that ended in a fatal shooting in Broward County.
“It’s worst when you see it on television,” Apolimario said in Spanish about her son’s death.
Ordoñez’s family and others have been asking six law enforcement agencies to release the identities and bodycam videos of the officers who fired their weapons during the shooting.
“The police agencies tried to box in two kidnappers (Alexander and Hill) who had a hostage (Ordoñez) and then they used civilians ... as human shields,” Attorney Michael Haggard said during a news conference Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables.
The shooting on Miramar Parkway, just west of Flamingo Road, left Ordoñez, Alexander, Hill, and Rick Cutshaw dead. Carlos Lara was injured. Ordoñez was 27. Cutshaw was 70.
Haggard is representing Lara and the families of Ordoñez and Cutshaw. He said there is a witness who claims the police shot at Alexander and Hill first. He said witnesses saw officers use civilians’ vehicles as cover.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still investigating the fatal shooting. The FBI processed the crime scene. Apolimario and Martinez want to know why officers didn’t rescue Ordoñez. They have many unanswered questions.
“My two girls love their dad ... I’m not really sure what’s going to be the result of this case," Martinez said. "The only thing that I can think of right now for myself and for my future are my children because they need me more than ever now.”
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