Michelle Jordan Cummings, 57, was killed after being fatally struck by stray bullets while dropping her son off at the U.S. Naval Academy. Cummings and her husband stayed at the Graduate Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland, while getting their son settled into the Academy.
On Tuesday, Cummings went to sit on the balcony a little after midnight when stray gunshots suddenly struck. According to NBC News, police and paramedics were called to the hotel, but, unfortunately, Cummings was pronounced dead at the hotel. Police said they believe the gunshots came from a block away on Pleasant Street; however, no one has been identified as a suspect.
“What turned out to be a celebratory occasion … turned into a tragic event,” Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson said. Cummings was expected
NBC News received a statement from the U.S. Naval Academy, describing Michelle as the “proud mother of Midshipman Candidate Leonard Cummings III, a 2021 graduate of the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, R.I., and incoming plebe (freshman) for the Naval Academy Class of 2025.” Police are offering a $20,000 reward for any information on the suspect.
