John Jefferson
Background: Outside the home of Robert Cummings (WRAL). Inset: Robert Cummings (GoFundMe).
A North Carolina family’s Thanksgiving holiday began in tragedy when a man was shot outside his home during the early morning hours by an unknown assailant.
Police in Zebulon, a town located around 25 miles east of Raleigh, reported that when they responded to a call at 1:30 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 28, they found Robert Cummings, 55, in his front yard, unresponsive with a gunshot wound. He was brought to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police have asked local residents for their help in finding out who is responsible and an investigation is ongoing.
Cummings’ family spoke to WRAL, a local NBC affiliate, to express how much their loved one’s death has affected them. Damain Cummings, the son of the victim, told WRAL that when he was first made aware of his father’s shooting, he thought, “Maybe it’s not all real. Maybe it’s just like a dream.”
Cummings’ mother, Cora, told WRAL that she heard two gunshots, “and I heard somebody say, ‘Mmmph.’ And I said, ‘That sounds just like Robert.””
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Damain Cummings, who started a GoFundMe page for funeral expenses, also implored anyone with information about the shooting to come forward, saying, “My thing of it is, just put yourself in my shoes. If this was your family member would you want your family to go unknown or would you want your family to have a peace of mind?”
The grieving son wrote on GoFundMe, “I’m trying to help my grandma out with funeral expenses because my dad was shot and killed on Thanksgiving 2024 at 1:30 am in his hometown. If you can, please help; anything would do. Thank you. This is hard on my grandma, so I want to do my best to help with anything I can while we look for who did this to our family.”
Police have not announced any suspects or made any arrests in connection with Robert Cummings’ death.
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