MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Three people are dead, including a young child, after a shooting occurred Friday morning outside of a Chase bank in west Miami-Dade, authorities confirmed.
The bank is located in a shopping plaza off Bird Road and Southwest 152nd Avenue.
One Local 10 News viewer told Local 10 in an email that she was attending a Pilates class at the Kendall West shopping plaza at 7:30 a.m. when the instructor announced that he heard multiple shots.
She said he then locked the door and moved everyone to the back of the studio.
Detective Luis Sierra confirmed that a man pulled up next to another vehicle outside the bank and fatally shot a woman and child who were inside the vehicle.
The gunman then fatally shot himself, Sierra said.
Police have identified the victims as 43-year-old Odalys Bancroft and 3-year-old Theodore Cuoto.
According to family members, Bancroft was divorced and recently had an ex-boyfriend she was trying to separate herself from, even filing a restraining order.
Relatives said it was that ex-boyfriend who pulled the trigger on Friday.
Local 10 News obtained cellphone video from a witness that shows the armed man, who was wearing a black T-shirt and backwards hat, after shooting into the minivan next to him in the ATM line.
Witnesses said they then waved down a police officer.
According to Sierra, an on-duty sergeant with MDPD’s Kendall District was driving south on Southwest 152nd Avenue when he heard the gunshots and then responded to the location.
He said the gunman was found dead in the passenger side of the minivan.
Police have not released a motive for the murder-suicide.
Family members have created a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses, and it can be found by clicking here.