Naval Academy Mother's Killing: Jury Selected, Murder Trial Begins In Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The jury was selected Monday in the trial of an Annapolis man accused of killing a Naval Academy midshipman's mother in 2021, reports said.

Prosecutors accused Angelo Reno Harrod, 31, of fatally shooting Michelle Jordan Cummings, 57, with a stray bullet last summer in downtown Annapolis. Cummings, who lived in Houston, was in town for her son's induction into the United States Naval Academy.

Harrod is charged with first-degree murder, among other related offenses, WBAL reported. The TV station said Harrod pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The trial was originally scheduled to start this March, but jury selection was postponed until this week.

WBAL said the case had 120 prospective jurors, including nearly 30 percent who told the judge they had heard about the case before coming to jury selection on Monday morning. By that afternoon, the prosecution and the defense settled on a jury of six men, six women and four alternates.

The judge expects the trial to last three weeks, WBAL said. Both sides will present their opening statements on Tuesday.

WBAL said the prosecution's witness list includes dozens of people. The state also plans to call Harrod's mother and wife as witnesses, the news outlet reported.

The case is being tried in Annapolis in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

Suspect's History

FOX45 reported that Harrod has a criminal past of more than a decade and was a fugitive when Cummings was fatally shot.

Court records alleged that Harrod cut off his electronic ankle monitor about two months before Cummings' death, FOX45 said.

Records also showed that was the second time Harrod escaped home confinement, the news outlet said. That sparked questions about why Harrod was granted pretrial release in the case that led to the ankle monitor he is accused of removing before Cummings' death.

The Shooting

Cummings was shot on June 29, 2021 around 12:21 a.m. She was sitting on a hotel patio in the unit block of West Street with the parents of another incoming midshipman, police said.

The shots were fired on nearby Pleasant Street. Cummings was not the intended target, officers said, but multiple stray bullets struck her.

Authorities alleged the suspect was aiming for two uninjured victims. Medics pronounced Cummings dead at the scene, a press release said.

The Annapolis Police Department said officers arrested Harrod on July 14, 2021.

To learn more about the trial, read the full stories from WBAL and FOX45.

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