On a summer evening in Hartford, Connecticut, the life of 21-year-old Ashley Spence, a Black female, was tragically cut short. On June 21, 2016, gunshots echoed through Enfield Street, and when police arrived around 7:22 p.m., they discovered a chaotic and violent scene. Ashley had been shot multiple times in her torso and extremities behind a residence. She was rushed to St. Francis Hospital but ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
Another victim, 19-year-old Cameron Mounds Jr., was found nearby and pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to his upper torso. A third individual also sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting.
The investigation into the double homicide revealed that the shooting stemmed from a dispute. Early on, authorities identified 27-year-old Brandon Letman of New Britain as a person of interest. However, it would take over three years for investigators to piece together enough evidence, including lab results and witness testimony, to formally charge him in the deaths of Ashley and Cameron. During this period, Letman was already incarcerated for unrelated offenses. Police indicated that Ashley was not believed to have been the intended target of the violence that unfolded that evening.
In December 2019, a significant breakthrough came for the families who had waited patiently for justice. Brandon Letman was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, murder with special circumstances, and assault with a firearm. His bond was set at $2 million. The case finally went to trial, and in May 2024, a jury found Letman guilty on all charges, which also included criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and multiple counts of tampering with a witness. On July 22, 2024, more than eight years after Ashley's death, her killer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release, with an additional ten-year consecutive sentence for the witness tampering charges.
