Four people were dead after a UPS truck was commandeered following an attempted armed robbery on South Florida’s glitzy Miracle Mile, leading police on a two-county rush-hour chase that ended in a hail of gunfire, authorities said.
Two people suspected to have been the robbers, the UPS driver and an uninvolved nearby motorist were killed 20 miles away after the nationally televised freeway pursuit, said George Piro, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office. Two other people were also killed, he said.
The incident began in Miami-Dade County at about 4:15 p.m., when two people tried to rob a jewelry store on the Miracle Mile, the downtown stretch of Coral Gables that is home to many glamorous stores and restaurants, Piro said.
The suspects exchanged gunfire with a jewelry shop worker, who was being treated for undisclosed injuries, Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak Jr. said. At least one bullet hit a window at City Hall, where no injuries were reported, he said.
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The robbers then hijacked a nearby UPS truck, abducting its driver, Hudak said. Alerted by a silent alarm that had been triggered in the jewelry store, a fleet of law enforcement vehicles gave chase in a pursuit that was broadcast across the country.
The chase was “terminated” 20 miles away in Miramar in Broward County, Hudak said.
News helicopter video appeared to show a person falling out of the truck after several shots were fired.
UPS said it was “deeply saddened to learn a UPS service provider was a victim of this senseless act of violence.”
Hudak said: “This is what dangerous people do to get away, and this is what people will do to avoid capture.”
“In matters like this, it is just difficult for all of us, not just in law enforcement but also in society,” he said.
The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined state and local police in investigating.