Man arrested in death of New Jersey council member shot in his car

A man has been arrested in the death of a New Jersey borough council member who was shot in his car in February, officials said Tuesday.

Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, was arrested in Chesapeake, Va., in the death of Eunice Dwumfour, Middlesex County District Attorney Yolanda Ciccone said at a press conference on Tuesday. Dwumfour, 30, was shot several times in her car on February 1 in Sayreville, where she was a member of the borough council.

Bynum was charged with first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a second-degree handgun and possession of a second-degree handgun for an unlawful purpose, Ciccone said. He was taken into custody Tuesday morning and is awaiting extradition to New Jersey.

It is not known whether he has retained the services of a lawyer.

No motive was given in the case, but it appears the two got to know each other.

“A search of the victim’s phones revealed that Bynum was a contact in Eunice Dwumfour’s phone with the acronym FCF,” Ciccone said. “FCF would be the acronym for Fire Congress Fellowship, a church with which the victim was previously affiliated.”

Ciccone said Bynum matched the description of the witness at the time of Dwumfour’s death, and phone device records showed him traveling from Virginia to New Jersey returning immediately after Dwumfour’s death.

The device’s recordings allegedly match the travel time of what appears to be a rented Hyundai Elantra that was recorded by license plate readers in toll areas. A witness told police he saw a suspicious white Hyundai in the area at the time of Dwumfour’s death, according to Ciccone.

Search records also showed Bynum was looking for current Dwumfour research, the Sayreville area and magazines compatible with a specific handgun, Ciccone said.

Ciccone did not take questions Tuesday afternoon.

Dwumfour suffered “multiple gunshot wounds” and died at the scene, police said.

Mahesh Chitnis, who served on the Sayreville Human Relations Commission with Dwumfour, said in a tribute post that Dwumfour was shot about 300 feet from his home.

“I am shocked, scared and heartbroken,” the post said. “She was a woman full of life.”

Dwumfour was a Republican serving a term from 2022 to 2024, the council’s website previously reported.

Councilor Eunice Dwumfour (Seth Wenig/AP)

Councilor Eunice Dwumfour (Seth Wenig/AP)

Former Sayreville Police Chief John Zebrowski has been selected to fill the Dwumfour seat, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

Dwumfour’s family and area residents had expressed frustration over the lack of results from the inquest in the weeks following his death, according to NBC New York. Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick even announced that she would not be seeking re-election due to threats she had received over the case.

“I call it my break,” Kilpatrick April said. “I have to take a break because there is nothing more important than my children and my family.”

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin addressed the discontent at Tuesday’s press conference, acknowledging that there had been “a lot of questions” raised by the community.

“I want you to know that the people behind me and the people in this community and across the state who are working tirelessly on this investigation did so to keep the public safe and to make sure these issues could find a solution. response,” Platkin said. “And I hope today is the start of a healing process and also the start of a sense of justice for you.”

This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com

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