
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9308260123
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

MAN KILLS STRANGER, SELF AFTER ARGUMENT OVER PEN

A Maryland man shot himself to death in front of a Norfolk carwash hours after he killed a stranger over a pen in a Severna Park, Md., doughnut shop.

Charles Willis, 21, of Severna Park, was shot at 3:15 a.m. Wednesday by Thomas Cummings, of Arnold, Md., who then fled to Norfolk but was followed by Virginia State Police.

Police said there was no apparent motive for the shooting other than a trivial argument over the pen.

"They were perfect strangers," said Sgt. Robert Jashick, head of the Anne Arundel County Police Department's homicide unit.

Officer Terry Crowe said Cummings borrowed the pen from Willis at least twice, then asked to buy it.

Willis approached Cummings, 23, to retrieve the pen after telling him it was not for sale. Cummings then pulled a gun from his waistband and began firing, police said.

Willis collapsed after the first volley, but the gunman continued to fire three or four more times. Up to 10 shots were fired, police said.

"I'm sure we're going to find the pen was just the straw that broke the camel's back," Crowe said.

The shooting occurred in front of two of Willis' friends and two shop employees. The friends jumped over a railing and hid in a bathroom after the shooting started. The workers escaped out the back door of the store, Crowe said.

After the shooting, witnesses said the gunman left without the pen and walked calmly behind the store, where he remained briefly before driving away.

Anne Arundel authorities alerted Virginia State Police that Cummings might be heading toward the Norfolk area because he had relatives there, said Rebecca Feaster, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police.

"He passed a trooper on I-64, and the trooper followed him," Feaster said. "Then he got off on an exit, ran a red light, then slowed" before state police and Norfolk cruisers surrounded his car.

Cummings opened the door of his car, shut it, then shot himself in the head while the car was still in gear, she said. Police believe he used the same gun used in the earlier shooting, Crowe said.

His vehicle came to a stop in the parking area of a carwash. "He didn't say anything to anybody," Feaster said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB