In a tragic incident early Friday morning, June 7, 2024, a woman and her four-year-old son were fatally shot in what authorities are calling an apparent murder-suicide outside a Chase Bank in southwest Miami-Dade, Florida. The event also saw the perpetrator take his own life.
The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. in the bank’s drive-thru at Bird Road and 152nd Avenue intersection. According to Miami-Dade Police Detective Luis Sierra, an on-duty sergeant patrolling the area responded upon hearing gunshots and discovered the scene.
Detective Sierra said a woman driving a minivan with a young boy inside approached the bank’s ATM. Shortly after, a man in an SUV drove up beside her and began shooting, resulting in the deaths of both the woman and the child before he took his own life.
Authorities identified the victims as 43-year-old Odalys Bancroft and her son, Theodore Couto, who was just shy of his fifth birthday. The shooter, identified as Michael Andres Pineda Lozano, was found dead at the scene. Lozano was Bancroft’s ex-boyfriend.
The event has left the community in shock. “Never in a million years would I expect anything like this to happen,” said Bancroft’s brother, Michael Trujillo. Her brother remarked, “I can’t fathom any circumstances that would lead a normal person to commit such an act against a woman and her child. They were in the process of breaking up, but I never noticed any indications of fear that something like this could happen.”
Bancroft was the director of regulatory affairs at Jackson Health System, where she had worked since 2015. She began her career as a clinical staff nurse and eventually took on leadership roles at Holtz Children’s Hospital. “Odalys was profoundly committed to our mission and was always proud to represent Jackson. Her contributions have left a lasting impact, making Jackson a better place,” stated Jackson Health System CEO and President Carlos A. Migoya.
Theodore, affectionately known as Teddy, recently graduated from Pre-K-4 and would have turned five next month. “Everywhere that he was, it was always just a happier place with him around,” Trujillo said.
Footage from the scene depicted a silver BMW SUV parked next to a dark-colored minivan at the bank’s ATM, both vehicles surrounded by yellow crime scene tape. The sight of the child’s car seat inside the minivan further highlighted the severity of the incident.
Family members were seen speaking with police outside the bank, visibly distressed. Teddy’s father was at the scene Friday, frantic, as police tried to console him.
This incident is part of a troubling pattern of murder-suicides in the Miami-Dade area. In the previous week, there were two other suspected murder-suicide cases. On Thursday, June 6, a shooting in Coral Gables left a man and woman dead, with the woman’s son hospitalized. On Sunday, June 2, a man in southwest Miami-Dade killed his elderly parents and partner before taking his own life.
