Family, friends try to process loss of 8-year-old in 'horrific' Sanford shooting

Branden Christian, his mother Latina Herring both dead

SANFORD, Fla. – Family and friends remember 8-year-old Branden Christian, who was shot Monday after Allen D. Cashe kicked in the door to his mother's home on Hays Drive in Sanford that morning.

Members of his family, including his grandmother, were too emotional to talk on camera with News 6 reporter Vanessa Araiza on Tuesday.

Balloons and small toys were set in front of the home that Sanford police are calling one of the most horrific scenes they've covered.

Tina Herring's sister, Trice, was at the home Tuesday where the shooting took place and told News 6 she's not ready to talk and that her head is spinning trying to take it all in.

News 6 also spoke off camera to the boy's aunt, and cousin outside Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

They told Araiza that they have not been able to sleep.

Cashe is accused of not only shooting Branden Christian, but also his 35-year-old mother Latina Herring, who died after being shot seven times in her bedroom, police said in the report.

Police said Herring and Cashe were in a relationship and officers responded to two incidents, one at the Wawa gas station around 3:20 a.m. and another 17 minutes later from another caller about a woman being battered three hours before police said Cashe returned with an AK-47 and opened fire in the home.

Branden's younger brother Brendon, 7, remains in critical condition at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. Their grandfather, 56-year-old Bertis Gerard Herring, was shot five times in another bedroom, police said.

Cashe remains in the Seminole County jail on no bond in connection with the shooting at the Herring home and the shooting of two bystanders a short time later.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help fundraise for Brendon Christian and his siblings. You can find more information, here.