Congressman Elijah Cummings' Nephew Killed At College
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A senseless crime. The nephew of Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings was murdered at his Virginia college.
Mike Schuh reports police are stepping up their search for the killer as the Cummings family grieves. Congressman Cummings talked about the toll this has taken on his family. He says his nephew was slaughtered by some very dangerous people.
Christopher Cummings, 20, wanted to follow in his uncle, Representative Elijah Cummings', footsteps. But the promising honor student was murdered in his apartment, just off the campus of Old Dominion University, leaving the congressman reeling.
"Christopher is dead. He's not coming back but there are a lot of students who I really wonder about as far as their safety is concerned," Cummings said.
Someone broke into the house, shot Christopher and his roommate, who's still fighting for his life. Christopher's father says the same person may have tried to break into his son's home five weeks ago.
"Christopher saw him coming in, ran down the steps, pushed him out the door. Before the guy got completely out of the door, he pulled a gun on my son but Christopher was able to force him all the way out. They believe it's a possibility this is the same person who came back for revenge," said James Cummings, Christopher's father.
Christopher Cummings majored in criminal justice and had a 3.5 GPA. Friends say he tried to fight off the intruder while his roommate crawled to a neighbor's house for help.
"The police are kind of tight-lipped," Cummings said. "They don't want to release so much information because they think it might interfere with their investigation."
"Everybody loved Christopher," his father said. "He was a great kid."
Representative Cummings has seen the impact of violent crime in his own inner-city Baltimore district. Now it's touched him first-hand. He'll give the eulogy for his nephew Saturday.
"I'm going to do that but it's going to take every bit of strength that I have in my body," Cummings said.
Cummings also talked about the "stop snitching" mentality and how important it is for anyone who knows anything about this case to come forward and get the killer off the streets.
Christopher Cummings' funeral is Saturday morning at the Victory Prayer Chapel on Reisterstown Road in Northwest Baltimore.
