Four people are dead following a dramatic south Florida police chase – involving a hijacked UPS truck – that ended in gunfire, authorities confirmed late Thursday.
The incident began shortly after 4 p.m. when Coral Gables police responded to a robbery at a Regent Jewelers store. Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak told USA Today responding officers were met with gunfire from two suspects upon arrival.
About 20 minutes after fleeing the scene in a truck, the suspected robbers then hijacked a UPS delivery truck and took its driver hostage, FBI Special Agent in Charge George Piro, the head of the Miami field office, said during a news conference.
Pursuing officers chased the stolen vehicle until traffic forced it to stop near a busy intersection during rush hour, USA Today reported.
The hail of gunfire that erupted killed four people, including the two suspected robbers, the UPS driver and a bystander who was inside an idle car at the intersection, the Miami Herald reported.
Piro said during the news conference it is unclear if bullets fired by police or the hijackers are responsible for the deaths of the UPS driver and the bystander.
“It is very, very early on in the investigation and it would be completely inappropriate to discuss that,” Piro said. “We have just began to process the crime scene. As you can imagine, this is going to be a very complicated crime scene.”
UPS spokesman David Graves told USA Today the company will cooperate with authorities.
“We are deeply saddened to learn a UPS service provider was a victim of this senseless act of violence,” Graves said in a statement, adding, “We extend our condolences to the family and friends of our employee and the other innocent victims involved in this incident.”
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