Police search for man convicted in death of Elijah Cummings' nephew

NORFOLK, Va. (AP/WJZ) - Police in Virginia are searching for a man found guilty earlier this week of conspiring to kill a college student who was a nephew of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

A jury found Rashad Dooley guilty Wednesday of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in the death of Christopher Cummings, 20, in 2011, Norfolk police said in a news release. Dooley, who was acquitted of several other charges, including first-degree murder, wasn't in court. Police said Friday that three warrants for failure to appear were issued for his arrest.

Dooley is one of four Newport News men charged in the case last year, more than 10 years after Cummings, a student at Old Dominion University, was fatally shot and his roommate was injured.

The charges against two of the men, Kwaume Edwards and Ahmad Watson, were dismissed, news outlets reported. The trial for a fourth man, Javon Doyle, ended in a mistrial last month when the jury couldn't agree on a verdict. Doyle is expected to be retried, but no date has been set.

In 2011, Elijah Cummings told WJZ's Denise Koch he couldn't get over the murder of his nephew, a young man he loved like a son.

"A young person who's trying to do the right thing--working hard, getting good grades," he said. "Happy. And the next thing you know, they're dead."

Christopher Cummings was 20 years old at the time, studying criminal science and hoping to go into public service, just like his uncle. He was living in a house in Norfolk with two fraternity brothers.

He was shot while sleeping in 2011.

"There were three of them. They kill him and he's falling down the steps and the roommate who's downstairs opens the door and says, 'Christopher,' and they then shot the roommate four times. Four times," Elijah Cummings said. "When I went to visit that house for the first time and saw blood splattered all over the walls, down the carpet and to know the same blood runs in my hands...it was tough."