Police: Fla. man kills girlfriend, wounds 5 others in AK-47 rampage
SANFORD, Fla. -- A Florida woman and her boyfriend were arguing about house and car keys before he fatally shot her and wounded five others, including her two grade-school age sons, police said Monday.
Latina Herring and her boyfriend, Allen Cashe, were arguing at a gas station Monday morning about how they had taken each other’s car and house keys, and the woman approached a police officer about it, said officials in Sanford, Florida.
The officer settled them down, but sometime later an officer was called to the home in the Orlando suburb, where the argument had flared again.
This time, the couple was arguing about who had the keys to her house. Police searched Cashe and found no keys or weapons, and the keys were found inside the house, Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said at a news conference.
Cashe packed up a few belongings and left the house, and Herring gave the officers a bag of Cashe’s possessions that he refused to take with him, including a firearm. The officers left.
About three hours police said, Cashe returned to the house with an AK-47, fatally shot Herring, and wounded her two sons and their grandfather.
Neighbor Arlene Bush told CBS affiliate WKMG she heard about 12 gunshots, which made her think the shooter was going from room to room firing the gun.
“Excessive amount of blood everywhere,” Bush said. “I can’t even believe (the grandfather) made it out of the house as bad as he was.”
Cashe then allegedly went to a nearby street and shot two innocent bystanders, including a high school student waiting for a bus.
Dominique Smith, a witness who was at the bus stop, told CBS affiliate WKMG the gunman stopped and said, “I’m sorry, but y’all are gonna die,” before he fired about 10 shots.
Smith, who is also a high school student, told the station she ran to a neighbor’s house.
“I was scared. I was panicking. I was crying. I just didn’t know what to do. I just wanted my momma and my dad at the time,” she said.
A police officer who was in the neighborhood heard the shots, located Cashe and took him into custody, along with his rifle, police officials said.
Cashe faced charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree premeditated murder and attempted second-degree murder, Smith said at a news conference.
“This is one of the most horrific crime scenes our officers have had to encounter,” said Officer Bianca Gillett, a police spokeswoman.
The boys, ages 7 and 8, and grandfather were in critical condition, and the bystanders were in stable condition, she said. Family members told the station the boys were opening their eyes Monday night.
Smith defended the actions of his officers, saying Cashe had been searched and no weapons were found on him. He had committed no crime until the shootings, the chief said.
“It was a basic civil matter,” Smith said. “There would be no reason for us to arrest this individual because no crime had taken place.”