Cousins With Criminal Histories Identified As Robbery Suspects Killed In South Florida Shootout
CBSMIAMI (Miami) – The FBI has identified the two armed robbers who were killed Thursday after police say they ripped off a jewelry store, stole a UPS truck and kidnapped the driver, then led police a pursuit through two counties which led to a deadly shootout.
They are Lamar Alexander, 41, and Ronnie Jerome Hill, 41, both of Miami-Dade County, according to the FBI.
CBS4 News spoke to Alexander's brother, Corey Smith who said about his brother, "Make better choices in life. Your decisions affect more than just you."
Smith says Alexander had three children.
The men, who are cousins, both have criminal histories.
Court records show Alexander was sentenced to probation for a 1996 robbery and 1997 burglary. Five arrests in the 2000's resulted in no convictions before he served a lengthy stretch in prison for a 2008 armed robbery conviction in southwest Florida, gaining his release in 2017.
Florida Department of Corrections records show Hill served time in prison twice: in the 1990s on burglary and robbery convictions and more recently for five burglary-related convictions.
Naomi Hill, the aunt of both suspects, said Alexander was "a good boy -- he had changed his life around." She said he was married with three children and working for a garbage-collection company.
April Wyche, the sister of Ronnie Hill, said he was the father of two young children, one with special needs, and was working as a driver for a cabinetry company. She said she has no idea why he would have committed the robbery, saying he could have turned to her or their mother for help if needed. She wanted to apologize to the victims' families.
"No words can express how truly sorry we are," Wyche said, weeping. "We are praying for them."
Alexander, Hill, UPS driver Frank Ordonez, and innocent driver Richard Cutshaw, were all killed in the shootout which took place in a busy intersection in Miramar.
Cutshaw was a union representative who was stopped in his car ahead of the UPS truck.
"I said that looks like mister Rick's car the day before I was at his house talking to him," Shaw's neighbor, Lincoln Hirvela says he was helping him with pension paperwork.
Cutshaw was a giving person. "I don't think of him as a friend he was more like a brother."
Cutshaw's brother tells us he is survived by his 99-year-old mother and five brothers and sisters.
The incident began about 20 miles south during a robbery at Regent jewelry store in Coral Gables. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots that killed Ordonez or Cutshaw.
In Coral Gables, police said a jewelry store worker was also injured.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
