Rep. Elijah Cummings 'Scared The Intruder Away By Yelling' Inside Baltimore Home, Police Report Says
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Rep. Elijah Cummings confronted the man who tried to burglarize his home Saturday, a police report said.
The stranger broke into Cumming's home around 3:40 a.m. Saturday, just hours before President Donald Trump began lashing out against Cummings and Baltimore in a series of tweets that have lasted all week.
"I was notified of the intrusion by my security system," Cummings wrote in a statement. "I thank the Baltimore Police Department for their response and ask that all further inquiries be directed to them."
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Cummings' wife Maya said she learned a stranger might have been inside their home when their alarm system's motion detector alerted her phone about suspicious movement.
Cummings said the intruder never got into the residential area of the home. WJZ obtained the police report, which notes no property was stolen and the burglar fled on a bicycle.
The suspect, described as 5-foot-9 tall man in his early 40s, came into the home's via its front vestibule. The first door was unlocked, but the second door is locked and alarmed. When the suspect broke in, Elijah Cummings confronted the suspect and yelled at him.
The suspect was with a dark-colored bike as he was leaving their home. Maya Cummings took photos of the suspect with her cellphone as he left.
The man fled southbound in the 2000 block of Madison on the bicycle. No property was taken from the Cummings' home.
Maya didn't call 911, but notified a police sergeant of what happened and crime lab was called to the home later Saturday.
The suspect is described as a black man, with short black hair and dark brown eyes. He was last seen in a dark short-sleeve shirt, khaki shorts, dark tennis shoes and a fitted black hat with a red upside-down U.
Police continue to investigate the incident.
President Donald Trump tweeted about the incident, "Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!"
Several prominent Democrats and Republicans criticized the tweet as making light of the burglary.
The president defended his tweet from the White House late Friday afternoon.
"The tweet itself was just really a repeat of what I heard over the news," he said. "I know his house was robbed and I thought that was too bad. That was really not meant as a wise guy tweet. I mean, his house was robbed and it came over the news at a certain moment last night, and I had just mentioned it."
The president has blamed Cummings for Baltimore being "infested" with rodents and said the City is corrupt. His initial tweets followed an appearance on Fox News Channel by Kimberly Klacik, whose social media says she is a member of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee. She showed video of abandoned rowhomes and trash in the streets in the segment.
Klacik showed up unannounced at Cummings' home Friday.
"He wants to win again. Of course, he's going to use this to his advantage. He just had this spat with Congressman Cummings talking about the border," Klacik said. "Is it helpful with the rhetoric and how people are taking it emotionally? No. But I don't look to my president for a kumbaya moment. I look to him to lead, and if this is getting results, then so be it."
Rep. Cummings has not engaged the president. This week, he tweeted pictures of meetings with constituents and said he would "keep doing my job." The congressman is scheduled to speak at the opening of a playground near his home on Saturday.
