Cashe sentenced to life
Punishment for man in Sanford AK-47 shooting spree that killed his girlfriend, her child
One by one, family, friends and neighbors of Latina Herring and her children walked up to the podium in a Sanford courtroom Wednesday morning to testify about all that Allen Cashe took away.
Circuit Judge John D. Galluzzo later sentenced Cashe to life in prison for shooting six people, including two children, with an AK-47 after barging into the Herring family’s Sanford home on March 27, 2017. Herring, who was Cashe’s girlfriend, was killed, as was her 8-year-old son Branden.
“Branden and my aunt both gave people good laughs. And now my family can’t laugh anymore because they’re gone forever,” said Talajah Hampton, Herring’s niece. “I don’t know why the defendant did what he did. But I do know he hurt a lot of people, and I sincerely hope he’ll never be able to hurt anybody ever again.”
Cashe, 33, pleaded no contest Dec. 10 to two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of attempted first-degree fel-
ony murder.
Seminole-Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer initially said he would pursue the death penalty against Cashe, but his office later agreed to a deal that spared Cashe from death row and Herring’s surviving son, Brendon, from having to testify during a trial.
Before Cashe was sentenced, Galluzzo asked him if he had any questions. Cashe asked if there was a possibility he could be paroled, causing some in the courtroom to laugh. Florida abolished parole in 1983, meaning Cashe will spend the rest of his life in prison, barring a pardon or successful appeal.
Among the wounded in Cashe’s shooting spree were Herring’s father, Bertis Herring, and 7-year-old Brendon. Cashe also shot two bystanders as he fled the Herring family’s home. During his sentencing hearing Wednesday, several of those called to testify asked for Cashe to be executed.
Bertina Jackson, Latina Herring’s sister, said she forgave Cashe the day of the shooting spree and has not lost her faith in God, despite the loss of her sister and nephew. She read a letter addressed to them during the sentencing hearing.
“There have been times I have called for you in my sleep,” she said.
As she prayed in a waiting room at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children while doctors treated Branden and Brendon for gunshot wounds, Jackson said she uttered the four hardest words she’ll ever have to say: “Thy will be done.”
Authorities say the mass shooting started with a fight between Cashe and Latina Herring after she took the keys to his car and demanded he move out of her home on Hays Drive. Around dawn that morning, Cashe barged into the home, which Herring shared with her father and children, and unloaded an entire clip from an AK-47.
Latina Herring was shot seven times as she tried to get out of bed. Her father was shot five times in his bedroom.
The children were shot as they lay sleeping on a couch.
Cashe told police he didn’t mean to shoot the children, saying the gun misfired after he fell down. However, Sanford police officers say Branden and Brendon’s wounds were consistent with the gun being fired while Cashe was standing directly over them.
Rakeya Jackson, who was waiting for her school bus when Cashe shot her as he fled the Herring family’s home, described her terror as she lay bleeding from a gunshot wound.
Ely Montanez, who lived across the street, delivered a statement on behalf of all of the children in the neighborhood.
“That day my children lost their friend and a piece of their innocence,” Montanez said. “I had to show all the children on Hays Drive that sometimes people make mistakes.”
Bertrice Herring, another of Latina’s sisters, said she wanted everybody to know who her sister was — a mother who would do anything for her children. She said her father has been “broken” since that day, “like he has no purpose in the world.”
She said her life would never be the same.
“My family has been through so much. What was the reason for all of this?” she said. “… When it was all said and done, did you get what you wanted? All of this over a set of keys. We are left without our beloved Latina, and you are left without a set of keys.”