TikTok users are rallying behind 21-year-old Cameron Herrin, a street racer who killed a young mother and her 20-month-old baby with his speeding vehicle. Herrin smashed his car into the mother and her child while they were crossing the street. He was driving at least 100 miles per hour. Now, TikTok users are criticizing law enforcement for arresting Herrin and charging him for the deaths of the mother and child he killed because they think he is “too cute” for hard time in jail.
At the time of the incident, Herrin had pushed his Ford Mustang to speeds upward of 100 miles per hour. Before he slammed his muscle car into pedestrians, he managed to lower its speed to around 40 miles per hour, but the collision still proved fatal.
Herrin pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in December 2018 and was sentenced to twenty-four years in prison back during his sentencing in April 2021.
However, thousands of users of the Chinese-created TikTok platform are rallying behind the convicted killer and urging the justice system to go easy on Herrin because he is “too cute” for a hard life behind bars in Florida.
The TikTok videos that are advocating for the freedom of the confessed killer show him as he appeared in court for his April 2021 sentencing. In the images, Herrin is wearing a suit and a tie and has his hair coiffed in a way that is appealing to many people on the Chinese-created social media app.
Fortunately, many of the TikTok accounts posting content about Cameron Herrin seem to be bots created to latch onto his rising trend. However, there are still a number of real people who are obsessed with the convicted killer and believe he looks too good to be locked away in a Florida jail cell.
Herrin’s mother, Cheryl Herrin, does not enjoy all the publicity her son has been receiving from the Chinese social media platform. She reported that she had received calls from Herrin’s supporting, including from people who live in the Middle East.
She told the Tampa Bay Times: “It’s almost like an obsession, an unhealthy obsession.”
Cheryl Herrin said that TikTok users have started stalking the killer’s family online. Herrin’s fiancé even had her social media accounts hacked after he became a viral trend on TikTok.
Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Corrections Central Florida Reception Center prison has been inundated with calls after Herrin was relocated there. Some of the prison guards at the facility had their personal phone numbers leaked online, and Herrin’s TikTok fans have been calling them to harass them.
On the day Herrin killed, he was racing a friend through Tampa, Florida. Herrin drove his Ford Mustang while the friend, John Barrineau, drove a gold Nissan. Herrin barreled his muscle car into the mother and daughter while they were crossing the street. Barrineau managed to swerve out of the way and not hit the pair.
