An arrest has been made in the slaying of New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour who was shot more than a dozen times as she sat in her car in February.
Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was taken into custody on Tuesday morning with officials saying that he knew the victim from the Champions Royal Assembly Church in Newark.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said that surveillance footage captured Mr Bynum allegedly running from the scene after the shooting of the 30-year-old.
And she stated that Mr Bynum’s phone allegedly showed he had travelled from Virginia to New Jersey at the time of the killing, and the device’s data showed it return immediately afterwards.
Mr Bynum has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose.
Prosecutors have not given any motive for the killing and refused to take any questions from reporters when the arrest was announced.
“A search of the victim’s phones revealed Bynum as a contact in Eunice Dwumfour’s phone with the acronym FCF,” Ms Ciccone said. “FCF is believed to be an acronym for the Fire Congress Fellowship, a church the victim was previously affiliated with.”
The prosecutor also said that the suspect fits a description given by a witness.
Ms Dwumfour, a Republican, defeated a Democrat incumbent to win her seat in 2021 and was the first Black person ever elected to office in Sayreville.
Her family had raised concerns about the lack of results from the police investigation into the killing.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin addressed that situation and acknowledged that there had been “a lot of questions” about the failure to arrest anyone.
“I want you to know that the folks behind me and the folks in this community and across the state that work tirelessly on this investigation did so to ensure public safety and to ensure that those questions could be answered,” Mr Platkin said on Tuesday.
“And I hope that today is the beginning of a healing process and also the beginning of a sense of justice for you.”
