Jurors learn more about moments leading up to deadly shooting of US Naval Academy mother
BALTIMORE - On the third day in the murder trial of the mother of a Naval Academy Midshipman, jurors learned more about what happened in the moments before Michelle Cummings' death.
Officials believe Cummings was shot and killed by a stray bullet in Annapolis.
Angelo Harrod, 31, was charged with murder.
In the early morning hours of June 29, 2021, the stories of two women, total strangers, were about to converge.
One of them was Michelle Cummings, a proud mother who was hanging out with her husband and friends on a patio at The Graduate Hotel in Annapolis.
And just over the tree line, in an apartment complex parking lot, there was a young woman who had no connection with Cummings' family.
That young woman testified Wednesday that she'd stepped out of her SUV to take a call and that's when she had an encounter with two men in hoodies.
She told the court that one of the men called her name and then started a countdown for her to get out of the area.
But the witness said as she hurried into her SUV where her boyfriend sat, she heard about seven gunshots.
The bullets missed her, but prosecutors believe at least one round traveled through the trees, and Cummings became an innocent victim, struck by that stray bullet.
Now three days into the trial, none of the witnesses have positively identified the suspect, Harrod, as the shooter. That's a fact that Harrod's attorney seized on.
He asked one witness in court.
"You don't know Mr. Harrod - isn't that true?"
The witness answered, "That's correct".
Jurors also saw graphic photos of Michelle Cummings' wounds after she was pronounced dead on the patio floor.
Before the photos were shown in court, a prosecutor whispered to Mr. Cummings, "graphic photos". It was a warning of what would come.
As the images of his wife's body came across the screen, Mr. Cummings began to cry.
Prosecutors are attempting to build a case and it appears they believe they have the suspect on surveillance at the time of the shooting.
The jury will see that series of videos in the coming days.
