Video: UPS driver killed in US robbery, chase and shootout identified

Friends and family members are mourning the death of  a UPS driver  killed after being held hostage by two robbers  near Miami in the US state of Florida on Friday.

The driver was identified as Frank Ordonez, one of four people killed in the incident. 

His brother said Odronez had been a driver with United Parcel Service (UPS) for the past five years.

He is survived by a one-year-old daughter.  

The incident unfolded when two armed jewelry thieves trying to escape the scene of their heist on Thursday hijacked a delivery truck.

They took its driver hostage, then led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a deadly shootout, authorities said.

Four people were killed in the gunbattle on a busy street -- the two suspects, the driver of the United Parcel Service truck, and a bystander, FBI agent George Piro said.

The events began as two armed suspects robbed a jewelry store in Coral Gables, near Miami, late Thursday afternoon, Piro said.

"As the suspects left the area, they hijacked a UPS truck and kidnapped the driver," he said.

A shootout ensued when the delivery truck was caught in traffic around 5:30 pm (10:30 GMT) in Miramar, about 25 miles away.

The entire episode was broadcast live on TV, filmed by news helicopters.