A mother was shot and killed by stray bullets while dropping her son off at the U.S. Naval Academy just after Midnight Tuesday.
Houston resident Michelle Cummings was sitting on the Graduate Hotel patio with her husband and another family when she was shot multiple times, Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson said. Police say the attack on Cummings did not appear to be targeted. “It is believed that the shots were fired on Pleasant Street and traveled a short distance shooting the victim,” Jackson said at a news conference, according to ABC News.
First responders tried to save the 57-year-old, however Cummings was reportedly pronounced dead at the hotel. (RELATED: Two National Guard Members Injured During Drive-By Shooting In Minneapolis)
The Cummings family was dropping off their son, Midshipman Candidate Leonard Cummings III, at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he is a football prospect and an incoming freshman in the Academy’s class of 2025, ABC News reported.
Earlier today, the @AnnapolisPD identified the woman shot and killed earlier this morning as Michelle Jordan Cummings of Houston. She was the proud mom of Midshipman Candidate Leonard Cummings III, a 2021 NAPS grad & incoming plebe (freshman) for the USNA Class of 2025.
— U.S. Naval Academy (@NavalAcademy) June 30, 2021
Michelle was described as a “very engaged parent” by the Spring Independent School District in Harris, Texas, where Leonard was a student prior to attending the Naval Academy Preparatory School, Click2Houston reported. “She [Michelle] served in 2019-20 as the president of the Westfield High School Football Booster Club and was always ready to support our student-athletes.”
The Naval Academy and the city of Annapolis have also expressed their condolences to the Cummings family. Superintendent Vice Adm. of the Naval Academy Sean Buck said he “will do all that we can” to support Leonard and his family during this time, ABC News reported.
“As members of our Naval Academy family, we will do all that we can to support Leonard, his father and the entire Cummings family during this unfathomable time. My wife, Joanne, and I, on behalf of all of us here in Annapolis, offer our deepest sympathies.” – VADM Buck
— U.S. Naval Academy (@NavalAcademy) June 30, 2021
“This city’s heart is broken,” Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley told reporters Tuesday. “Somebody has lost their mom on the proudest day, probably, of her life.”
Buckley related the attack to the state’s larger problem with crime and gun violence. “We are focused on getting guns off the street, but it only takes one criminal with a gun for the results to be tragic,” Buckley said, according to ABC News.
“We’re going to come after you,” Cheif Jackson said, according to Click2Houston. “We want you to come and enjoy the city of Annapolis, but the one thing that we’re not going to tolerate is this lawlessness.”
Fellow Navy Football Parents have since set up a GoFundMe to help the family cover funeral expenses.