Man, woman and child dead in apparent murder suicide in Miami-Dade, police say
MIAMI - A man, a woman and a child are dead in an apparent murder-suicide in southwest Miami-Dade on Friday morning, according to police.
Around 7:37 a.m., an on-duty Miami-Dade Police Hammocks district sergeant was driving south on 152nd Ave and approaching Bird Road when he heard gunshots, according to MDPD Detective Luis Sierra.
Once he located where the sound was coming from, he came across the scene at a Chase Bank, where he found three dead people — one man, one woman, who was identified as 43-year-old Odalys Bancroft and one child, Sierra said to reporters during a media briefing later Friday morning. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called out to the scene shortly after.
According to a preliminary investigation, the woman and child were waiting in a minivan in the drive-thru ATM lane of the bank when the man pulled up in another drive-thru lane and opened fire, before turning the gun on himself.
Sierra said, "It appears the female in the minivan with the child was pulling up to the bank. I don't know what she was doing at the bank. She was at the ATM line when an unknown subject pulls up next to her in the SUV and opened fire killing both the female and the child and killing himself."
Rosa Alba had stopped at a restaurant at the shopping center when she heard the gunshots. She said, "I heard a lot of gunshots and I tried to seek cover. I was scared because there were a lot of gunshots. It is very sad because a kid was involved. Police got here very quickly."
Neighbors said they were saddened and perplexed.
Michelle Abreu said, "I am a mother and I just came from my granddaughter's show. She is 2 years old. So, this touches me because I saw all those little kids. I would love to hear why this happened and all I can say is people need to get help. People should not go to this extreme. This comes down to domestic violence and if you see something, say something."
Neighbor Demetri Simon said, "It is shocking to see this happening in this community and it is heartbreaking. It makes every parent worry for their children and their safety and makes us wonder if a random guy in the street can turn at any moment and we need to be cautious and prevent this from happening in the future. We need to take steps to prevent this from happening to protect our children."
The incident happens one day after another murder-suicide in Coral Gables at an apartment building.
Miami-Dade Police said a 61-year-old man shot and killed a 41-year-old woman who he was in a romantic relationship with and wounded his 20-year-old son and then killed himself.
Chopper4 over the scene at the Meadows Shopping Center spotted a silver BMW SUV in the drive-thru lane of a Chase Bank with its doors open and another vehicle in the adjacent lane.
At this time, Sierra said homicide investigators are trying to figure out the relationship between all three. Though the ages of each person were not yet determined, Sierra said the child was in a car seat at the time of the shooting.
"Homicide is doing the best they can to solve exactly what had happened," he said.
The intersection of Bird Road and SW 152nd Avenue was closed for the police investigation.