SANFORD, Fla. — A 31-year-old man accused of shooting six people, including two fatally, in Sanford Monday faced a judge Tuesday.
Police said Allen Cashe began the shooting spree shortly before 6:30 a.m. at a home on Hays Drive when he fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, LaTina Herring, 35, and her son Branden Christian Jr., 8, and critically wounded her father, Bertis Herring Jr., and her other son Brendon Christian, 7. The boy and his grandfather are in critical but stable condition.
Investigators said Branden Christian died of his injuries early Tuesday.
Cashe said very little in court, only asking to be taken off suicide watch.
The judge appointed Cashe a public defender and he was then sent back to jail on no bond.
Cashe and LaTina got into an argument over missing house keys shortly after 3 a.m. at a Wawa gas station, police said.
Herring told police Cashe had the keys to her home but wouldn’t give them back. While speaking to Herring, police received a 911 call from Cashe stating that Herring had the keys to his pickup truck.
Police said Herring returned the keys to Cashe, and both parties left the gas station separately.
The pair got into a second argument shortly after 3:30 a.m. at Herring’s home, officials said. Herring told police she wanted her house keys back. She also gave officers a bag of Cashe’s belongings, including a gun, for safekeeping, police said.
Less than three hours later, police returned to the home under very different circumstances.
Sanford police Chief Cecil Smith said the earlier incidents weren’t criminal, so the best officers could do was try to calm them both down before leaving.
“It's devastating,” said Quinton Jones, who is a cousin of the boys’ father. “I'm real upset. It started from a domestic dispute, so I don't understand why a gun is involved between a guy and a female and you have kids.”
Neighbor Arlene Bush said she did what she could to help them.
“I can't even believe Bert made it out of the house as bad as he was,” Bush said. “And then my next step (was asking), ‘Where are the kids?’”
As Cashe was allegedly fleeing the scene, investigators said he randomly shot two bystanders -- Lazaro Paredesquelite, who was walking, and Rakeya Jackson, 18, who was waiting at a bus stop -- at West 24th Street and South Marshall Avenue. Both are in stable condition.
Jackson is a student at Winter Springs High School.
Angel Acevedo was waiting for the school bus when he said he saw the accused gunman start firing at random.
"He said, 'Sorry guys, y'all have to die,' like that -- a weird way of saying bye or something," Acevedo said. "Then we saw a man down there and he got shot two times, and he was just bleeding out."
Read: Mass shootings in Central Florida: Which counties rank the highest?
Seminole County Public Schools said grief counselors will be made available Tuesday at the affected schools.
Court records said Cashe has a criminal history that dates back 12 years. He's been arrested for armed robbery, but was never prosecuted. The drug possession and domestic violence charges either resulted in no contest pleas, or the cases never made it to trial
Cashe was booked into the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on multiple homicide-related charges. He is scheduled to face a judge at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Watch it live here once it begins.
Cox Media Group
