A Texas mother was gunned down in a drive-by shooting while visiting Maryland to drop off her son at the US Naval Academy, police said.
Michelle Cummings, 57, was sitting on her hotel patio just after midnight on Tuesday when she was struck multiple times by stray bullets, Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson said at a news conference.
“What turned out to be a celebratory occasion for the family, celebrating their son going to one of the best institutions in the United States turned into a tragic event,” Jackson told reporters.
Investigators believe that the shots were fired from an SUV on a street adjacent to the Graduate Annapolis hotel. The bullets “traveled a short distance, shooting the victim,” who was not the intended target, the chief said.
Cummings, of Houston, and her husband, were in Annapolis to see their son, Leonard Cummings III, inducted into the Naval Academy, where he had signed to play football, KHOU reported.
Leonard Cummings, Leonard Cummings III, and Michelle Cummings, who was fatally shot while dropping her son off at the Naval Academy in Maryland.gofundme“I’m a bit emotional with this case because the way it happened,” Jackson said at a news conference Wednesday.
“His family travels from Houston, Texas, and what should have been the highlight of their summer — to take their son to an induction ceremony — and then it ended the way it did.”
The FBI and ATF have each joined the investigation, and announced Wednesday a combined $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in Cummings’ murder.
“This case of senseless violence is a top priority for us, and we are hoping this reward will help convince someone with information to do the right thing and pick up the phone,” said Rachel Byrd, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.
“We not only owe it to the victim and her family, but we owe it to the entire community to see that anyone responsible for her death is not allowed to walk away.”
