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Couple in Cocoa murder-suicide identified by police

COCOA, Fla. — A woman shot and killed her estranged husband, and then told her son about it when she picked him up from school, Cocoa police said Tuesday.

Aurora Hudson, 35, shot and killed Adrian Hudson, 37, Monday in a home on the 700 block of Georgia Avenue near South Fiske Boulevard, police said.

Police said that Aurora Hudson's wife arrived at the home with her two daughters, ages 7 and 10, and knocked on the door, asking to be let inside.

Investigators said Adrian Hudson confronted her husband, and then shot him several times while the children watched from the couch.

“When the children ran across the street to a neighbor, one of the girls said that her mom actually put the gun to her head," said Yvonne Martinez of the Cocoa Police Department.

Neighbors heard screams and called for help.

"We need an ambulance and police officer. I think somebody's been shot," a neighbor said to a 911 operator.

The children ran to a neighbor’s home.

“Not sure if the shooter is there. All I know is they came across the street, just came screaming and they say their dad had just gotten shot. They’re like 7- or 8-year-old kids. They play with my kids all the time," a neighbor told the operator.

Police said Aurora Hudson tried to get the children from neighbors, but the neighbors refused to hand them over.
Police said Aurora Hudson then drove to pick up her 18-year-old son from school. She brought him back to the house and told him what she had done, police said.
Police said Aurora Hudson later drove to Lee Wenner Park in Cocoa Village, shot herself and then let the car drive into the water.
Police and Brevard County deputies got Hudson out of the car and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The family’s pastor said the family is grieving and trying to get through the pain.
"They have, in essence, lost a father and a mother. So you can imagine just how difficult this time is for those children," said Rev. Glenn Dames of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The couple did not have a documented history of domestic violence, but police found out that they had physical fights in the past but never called authorities, investigators said. Police said Aurora Hudson wanted to reconcile, but Adrian Hudson did not.
The children are with a family friend, police said.
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