Three people, including a 4-year-old child and his mother, are dead after what appears to be a murder-suicide shooting outside a bank in southwest Miami-Dade Friday morning, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 7:30 a.m. in the drive-thru of a Chase Bank in the area of Bird Road and 152nd Avenue.
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Miami-Dade Police Det. Luis Sierra said an on-duty sergeant was driving in the area when he heard gunshots. He responded to the source of the gunshots and found the three bodies.
Sierra said it appears a woman in a minivan with a young boy inside pulled up to the bank's ATM and was in line when a man in an SUV pulled up next to her and opened fire, killing the woman and the child.
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The man then fatally shot himself, Sierra said.
"It appears to be that he opened fire on the minivan and then opened fire on himself," Sierra said.
The body of the child was found in the car seat, police said.
Police later identified the victims as 43-year-old Odalys Bancroft and her 4-year-old son, Theodore Couto, who would have turned four next month.
Footage from the scene showed a silver BMW SUV parked outside the bank on the other side of an ATM from the dark-colored minivan. The area was closed off by yellow crime scene tape.
The name of the suspect wasn't released. Sierra said homicide detectives were working to determine the relationship between the gunman and the victims.
Apparent family members could be seen speaking with police outside the bank. One man told NBC6 he was concerned it was his ex-wife and child who were killed.
Others who saw the aftermath of the incident were shocked to learn a child had been killed.
“I was at my granddaughter's show that’s 2 years old, I just came from there and all I can think of are those little innocent children there, that there is an innocent child in a car right now who died," Michelle Abreu said.
Miami-Dade County police have investigated two other suspected murder-suicide shootings in the previous week.
On Thursday, a shooting in Coral Gables left a man and woman dead and the woman's son hospitalized. On Sunday, June 2, a man shot and killed his elderly parents and partner before turning the gun on himself in at a home in southwest Miami-Dade.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
This is a developing story, Check back with NBC6 for updates.
