UPS Shootout Draws Similarities to North Hollywood With Different Outcome [OPINION]

Eighteen police officers in South Florida made the collective decision to open fire on a hijacked UPS truck driven by two jewelry store robbers who were holding the UPS driver hostage. These officers made the decision to light the brown truck up in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic at a crowded intersection full of motorists and dozens of pedestrians.  

Ballistic forensic evidence has not been released by either the FBI or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to prove whose bullets killed who, but when the gun smoke settled two innocent lives were lost in addition to the robbers. No officers were killed in the incident, but UPS driver Frank Ordonez and innocent motorist Rick Cutshaw were killed by gunfire during the shootout between officers from Miami-Dade, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, the Florida Highway Patrol and the two gunmen aboard the UPS truck.

A famous incident involving a bank heist in North Hollywood in 1997 resulted in two dead robbers and no dead officers or innocent lives. Two men wearing handmade Kevlar body armor carrying illegally modified fully-automatic AK47 clones with drum magazines containing 75-100 rounds of ammunition each entered a Bank of America.

One of the gunmen held everybody inside hostage while the other collected the money. The robbers fired several rounds into the ceiling to scare their hostages as well as firing a full drum magazine from an AK into one of the bank’s safes in anger at the unexpectedly low amount of money they collected.  

An officer driving by as the two men entered the bank called for backup at the bank for a possible bank robbery in progress. As the two gunmen were inside, officers arrived outside the bank and took cover in preparation for their encounter with the gunmen. The gunmen opened fire on the officers as they exited the bank towards their getaway car and the officers returned fire but were unable to neutralize the two men.

This is where we take a break to analyze and compare these two scenarios. The officers involved in the North Hollywood shootout chose to wait until the two robbers were clear from the hostages to engage them. They did not enter the bank to confront the robbers inside a bank full of customers and employees. One could argue that they still engaged the suspects in close proximity to the innocent hostages, but those hostages were protected by a large building made of concrete, not a delivery truck with thin sheet metal walls which can be pierced by handgun fire like swiss cheese.

What was behind police officers’ targets is also worth considering. The officers in North Hollywood mostly fired at suspects with a large concrete wall behind them, so when the officers miss their targets, the bullets hit a concrete wall. The officers in South Florida fired at suspects with mostly innocent bystanders behind their targets, so when the officers miss their targets because they’re obscured behind a large brown wall, they run a high risk of striking an innocent person, or even another officer.

Officers in the UPS shootout can be seen using a Toyota Highlander driven by someone who was presumably trying to get where they were going without their vehicle being used as cover from a hail of gunfire as the driver tries to drive away from the firefight towards safety.  

According to Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez who spoke with reporters from the Miami Herald, officers chose to endanger the lives of all the bystanders in the area because they didn’t want something worse to happen.

“They didn’t want a situation where [the robbers] bailed out and ran into a CVS, or a local shopping center, or even worse, started shooting at people at that intersection,” said Perez according to the Miami Herald. “It was a very difficult situation they were facing. They tried the best they could and showed incredible courage

No doubt officers who voluntarily take up a job which requires them to potentially put their life at risk show incredible courage. However, I have never heard of a robber who is trying to make an escape while fleeing police decide to take a detour to attempt another robbery or just stop escaping to shoot at a bunch of innocent people.

It is possible the robbers could have gone into another business and taken people hostage, endangering more lives, but that situation at least provides the ability to negotiate with the hostage takers. Bullets don’t leave much room for dialogue during negotiations and they usually only result in damage.

Videos from nearby motorists, many of whom suffered damage to their vehicles from the gunfire, show numerous squad cars surround the UPS truck while officers taking cover behind motorist’s vehicles exchange fire with the two hostage takers on the truck. One man recorded Cutshaw’s car crashing into the front of his own car after he was struck and killed by the gunfire which can be clearly heard in the background.

The man who recorded the video got out of his vehicle, against the pleading of his son to get down, to try to get police to help Cutshaw, who was clearly wounded behind the wheel.

“Sir! This guy needs help, man!” said the motorist to police. “He received fire!”

Other similarities to the North Hollywood shootout are the courage and willingness to help in any way possible shown by civilians who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A dentist who happened to be in his office nearby at the time of the North Hollywood shootout is credited with saving the life of at least one LAPD officer who was wounded by gunfire from the bank robbers. One other officer received medical attention from Dr. Jorge Montes during the firefight.  

The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating why the UPS shootout happened as well as exactly what happened during the chaotic firefight. Hopefully they can tell us why 22 years of law enforcement strategies and tactics development from the North Hollywood shootout resulted in a worse outcome.