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Wounded housemate of slain Old Dominion student gives account of shooting

By Victor Zapana,June 14, 2011

Gunshots woke Jake Carey, an Old Dominion University student who lived about a block from the Norfolk campus, about 5 a.m. Friday.

Carey rushed out of his bedroom and saw his housemate, Christopher Cummings, 20, fall to the ground at the top of a stairwell, Carey’s uncle said. The student saw other people upstairs too.

Then, he told his family, there were “flashes and sounds” as he was shot five times, bullets striking his hand, side, shoulder and neck.

On Monday, Jake Carey’s uncle, Dale Carey, shared some details of the account his nephew has provided of the early-morning incident that left Cummings dead and put a campus community on edge, even during the quiet summer break. Dale Carey said his nephew is unable to speak because of the wound to his neck, but has written notes describing the shooting to family and Norfolk police.

Norfolk police would not say whether they have identified any suspects or motive in the shooting of Carey and slaying of Cummings, who is the nephew of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). Police spokeswoman Karen Parker-Chesson said she could not confirm Dale Carey’s account of what happened that night.

On campus, officials and students have responded with grief and concern. Cummings’s fraternity held a candlelight vigil Saturday night. And ODU President John S. Broderick announced the installation of more emergency phones, enhanced lighting in garages and more university police.

At a Monday news conference, Elijah Cummings noted that at least four robberies had recently occurred in the area.

“I can’t even describe the pain,” Cummings said of his nephew’s death. “This was a guy who was just a good kid.”

Cummings, whose family lives in Woodbridge, was a junior who studied criminal justice. Carey just finished his junior year.

Melvina Sumter, an Old Dominion sociology and criminal justice associate professor, said Cummings was the victim of an attempted robbery about a month ago at the same house where he was slain.

Sumter said Cummings mentioned the incident in her summer-session class in which he was enrolled.

According to Sumter, Cummings said that on the evening of May 17, he saw a man outside wearing a sweater with a hood over his head. The choice of clothing was odd, Sumter said Cummings remarked in class, because it was a warm day.

Sumter said Cummings told the class that the man tried to enter the house and held him at gunpoint. But Cummings wrestled with the gunman, who ran off the porch and onto the street. Cummings then chased the gunman, but lost him.

“I noticed something was wrong and caught [him] in the [nick] of time,” Cummings wrote in a May 18 email to Sumter.

Parker-Chesson said a burglary report was filed for Cummings’s residence in May, but did not say whether the report was for the same incident or whether police think it could be connected to the shooting.

Dale Carey said his nephew suffered serious injuries but is “out of immediate danger.”

“He’s young, he’s 20 years old, and hopefully he’ll pull through,” Dale Carey said, adding that his nephew will start physical therapy in a couple of weeks. The uncle said doctors will not know for three or four weeks whether Carey would be able to speak.

Cummings’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Baltimore’s Victory Prayer Chapel, where his grandmother is a pastor. Elijah Cummings said he will give the eulogy.

Staff researcher Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.