A suspect was in custody early Sunday after seven people were found dead at two homes in Tennessee, authorities said. Michael Cummins, 25, was detained in what authorities believe to be related homicides, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. UPDATE: Michael Cummins is in custody. pic.twitter.com/VkSYjVhbcu — TBI (@TBInvestigation) April 28, 2019 Four victims were found at one address and one at a second location in Sumner County, bureau spokesman Josh Devine said at a news conference. The bureau later said two more bodies were recovered at the first address near the town of Westmoreland, just south of the Kentucky state line. A critically injured victim was also found there, authorities said. Additional details about the victims were not immediately available. Cummins was initially considered a person of interest, but now investigators say they are treating him as a suspect. He was traced to a creek bed approximately one mile from the first crime scene. A SWAT team was deployed and at least one officer fired his weapon, striking Cummins during the arrest. He was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not immediately believed to be life-threatening. Investigators say they are now trying to identify the victims. Their bodies will be sent to Nashville for autopsies. They are also looking for a possible motive behind the deaths and trying to establish if Cummins knew the victims.<doc-sep>A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Vigils & tributes to George Floyd one year since his murder ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East (CNN) — At least three of the seven people killed in Sumner County, Tennessee, were related to the suspect in the slayings, including his mother, father and uncle, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said Monday. The victims also included three generations of another family, a 12-year-old girl among them, and a woman who is not related to Cummins, Rausch told reporters. The victims were likely dead for more than a day upon being discovered, he said. Michael Cummins, the 25-year-old suspect who has a long criminal record and authorities say was released from prison earlier this year, is hospitalized after being shot by a sheriff’s deputy. His injuries are not life-threatening. He has not been formally charged. An eighth victim, also Cummins’ relative, is in the hospital in critical condition, Rausch said. Authorities discovered six of the bodies and the injured victim off a rural road between Westmoreland and Fairfield, small towns about 50 miles northeast of Nashville. A seventh body was found at a home less than a mile from the primary crime scene, police said. The victims were identified as follows: Cummins’ dad, David Carl Cummins, 51, the suspect’s mom, Clara Jane Cummins, 44, his uncle, Charles Edward Hosale, 45, Rachel Dawn McGlothlin-Pee, 43, whose relationship to Cummins is unknown, McGlothlin-Pee’s daughter, Sapphire, 12, McGlothlin-Pee’s mother, Marsha Elizabeth Nuckols, 64, and Shirley Fehrle, 69, who is not related to Cummins. Tennessee investigators said the home where six of the victims were found dead over the weekend was one of the most complex and gruesome crime scenes they’d ever encountered. “This is one of the most horrific cases that I’ve ever had to encounter and deal with,” said District Attorney Ray Whitley, who has been in his position since 1980. Added Sheriff Sonny Weatherford, who has been in law enforcement since 1983, “I’ve never seen anything that would even come close to this.” A family member called police Saturday after finding four of the bodies, and the TBI quickly announced investigators had found a fifth body at a nearby home. The next day, the bureau said it had found two more bodies at the first house. Investigators declined to say how the victims were killed, citing the ongoing investigation. After Cummins was identified as the suspect, police said, a search plane located him in a creek bed about a mile from the first home. More than a dozen SWAT team officers converged on the creek, the TBI said. “The situation escalated, for reasons under investigation, and resulted in at least one officer firing his service weapon, striking Cummins,” the TBI said, adding that no officers were hurt. Cummins has a lengthy criminal history. According to a TBI background check, it includes pleading guilty to violating a protective order in 2013, entering into a plea deal for attempted assault and a probation violation in 2013, pleading guilty to theft and evading arrest in 2017, pleading guilty to domestic assault and a probation violation in 2017 and convictions in 2018 on aggravated assault and aggravated arson charges. He was most recently released from prison January 19, Whitley said. Before his latest arrest, Cummins was scheduled to remain on probation until 2027, the Tennessee Department of Correction said. CNN’s Theresa Waldrop, Sam Romano, Deanna Hackney and Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Seven people, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed in a string of Sumner County homicides investigators linked to a local man with a history of violence. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed the increased number of victims Sunday afternoon. Disturbing details of the crime and the suspect continued to emerge Sunday as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation scoured two separate crime scenes in a densely wooded pocket of Sumner County near the Kentucky border. Law enforcement was still blocking two roads near where the victims were found Saturday in two homes about a mile from each other. Reports from the crime scene on Saturday night suggested five had been killed. The TBI said two other bodies were found later as agents continued their work. An eighth victim was critically injured but survived. Want news from USA TODAY on WhatsApp? Click this link on your mobile device to get started The TBI would not confirm the identity of any victims. District Attorney Ray Whitley confirmed a young girl was among the dead. “It’s terrible," Whitley said in a phone interview. "About as bad as it can get.” Whitley would not say how any of the victims died. TBI spokesman Josh DeVine said the bodies had been sent for autopsies Sunday. Suspect arrested after manhunt, motive still in question The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation named Michael Cummins, 25, as a suspect and law enforcement took him into custody after a massive manhunt Saturday night. Cummins was shot by law enforcement while being captured, but he was in good condition Sunday. Whitley said criminal charges were being finalized. In addition to the homicides, he said, there was evidence that Cummins stole a car. TBI spokesman Josh DeVine said agents and forensic scientists were still working at both crime scenes. DeVine said the victims' bodies had been sent for autopsies to determine the cause of death. 'Massive' manhunt for suspect:Man in custody after 5 found dead in rural Tennessee The crime scenes are in a wooded, rural part of northeastern Sumner County between Westmoreland and Oak Grove communities. Six of the homicide victims were found at a residence in the 1100 block of Charles Brown Road. The seventh was found in the 1500 block of Luby Brown Road. An eighth, injured victim was found at the home on Charles Brown Road. Margie Hatton, who lives near one of the crime scenes, said she had left her home and stayed elsewhere Saturday night, when officers were still looking for Cummins. "I didn’t want to stay because they couldn’t find him at that time," Hatton said in a phone interview. The TBI has not released information about the victims, but the agency said there was reason to believe the two crime scenes were related. The TBI is working to identify a motive. Suspect had violent criminal history Cummins had an extensive criminal record in Sumner County, according to court records confirmed by Sheriff Sonny Weatherford. He pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated arson and aggravated assault in Sumner County on July 19. A family friend said Cummins had tried to set a neighbor's home on fire. Other guilty pleas included domestic assault in August 2017, evading arrest in April 2017, theft in April 2017 and probation violations, Weatherford confirmed. Contributing: Nicole Young, The Nashville Tennessean