Family speaks after wife and son killed in murder-suicide outside Chase Bank – NBC 6 South Florida

A family is mourning after a mother and her four-year-old son were killed in a murder-suicide outside a Chase Bank in West Kendall.

“Never in my life did I expect something like this to happen,” said Michael Trujillo.

Trujillo says his sister, 43-year-old Odalys Bancroft, was kindhearted and compassionate.

Bancroft was director of regulatory affairs at Jackson Health System. She joined the hospital system in 2015, began her career as a clinical nurse and eventually worked in leadership roles at Holtz Children’s Hospital.

“I just can’t imagine a situation where a normal person would do something like that to a woman and her child,” Trujillo said.

Her son, Theodore Couto, 4, was named Teddy and recently graduated from preschool. He would have turned 5 next month.

“Everything was just happier with him,” Trujillo said.

According to Miami-Dade police, Bancroft was traveling in a minivan with her son when she drove to the bank’s ATM and was waiting in line. A man in an SUV pulled up next to her and opened fire, killing her and the boy.

According to police, the shooter then killed himself.

Video of the incident obtained by NBC6 was filmed by a witness inside a Chase Bank in the area of ​​Bird Road and 152nd Avenue. NBC6 paused the video before the shooting.

Family members told NBC6 the shooter was Bancroft’s ex-boyfriend, but police have not yet confirmed the shooter’s identity.

“There were some concerns about him, but nothing that was too obvious,” Trujillo said. “They were going through a separation, but I had no indication that there was any such fear.”

Teddy’s father was at the scene on Friday, frantic, while police tried to comfort him. NBC6 has contacted Teddy’s father and his family, but they are not commenting at this time.

A GoFundMe page has been created to support Odalys and Theodore’s family.