'It Was Her Happiest Moment.' Then She Was Gunned Down

Michelle Cummings had traveled to Annapolis, Md., to see son's Naval Academy induction
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 1, 2021 8:53 AM CDT
$22K Reward Offered in Killing of Naval Academy Mom
Leonard “Trey” Cummings III, center, is pictured with his father Leonard and mother Michelle.   (GoFundMe)

Michelle Cummings had traveled from Texas to Maryland to watch her son, a football prospect, be inducted into the US Naval Academy. "It was her happiest moment," a friend tells KTRK. It was also one of her last. The Houston mom was shot and killed when a shooting erupted just after midnight Tuesday, the evening before the ceremony, near the patio of an Annapolis hotel where she was spending time with her husband and another couple, police say, per ABC News. KTRK describes a drive-by shooting, reporting that two people were seen in a vehicle "adjacent to where Cummings was shot." Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson said the 57-year-old appeared to have been struck twice. "I'm a bit emotional with this case ... this is a true victim," Jackson said at a Wednesday press conference, announcing a $22,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.

Jackson said he'd spoken to Midshipman Candidate Leonard "Trey" Cummings III, an incoming freshman for the Naval Academy Class of 2025, telling him that the best way to honor his mother was by completing his education. "I told him I was proud of him and he's doing something that the entire family is proud of, so don't let some misguided gunman take that away from him," he said, per ABC. Her son's biggest supporter, Cummings was president of the Westfield High School Football Booster Club while her son was a student in 2019-20. She "was there every day for every event," per KHOU. When her son committed to the Naval Academy last year, she told KTRK, "We could not ask for a better son." "Somebody has lost their mom on the proudest day, probably, of her life," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said Tuesday, vowing "the perpetrators will be found." (More US Naval Academy stories.)

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