This undated picture, supplied by the Sayreville Borough Council, reveals Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour. The 30-year-old councilwoman was discovered shot to demise in an SUV exterior of her residence, authorities mentioned on Thursday, Feb, 2, 2023. Police arrested her suspected homicide on Might 30. Sayreville Borough Council through Related Press
Police arrested 28-year-old Rashid Ali Bynum on Tuesday morning on homicide and gun prices linked to the demise of a Virginia councilwoman and pastor, Eunice Dwumfour, in February, authorities introduced.
In early February, Dwumfour was shot a number of occasions and located in her automobile exterior her Sayreville, New Jersey residence, reported The New York Instances.
The Instances reported that it was the 30-year-old councilwoman’s first 12 months on the town council and she or he was the primary ever Black individual elected there.
Police are nonetheless working to discover a motive for the homicide, however for now, they assume that the sufferer and the assassin knew one another via their church, officers introduced throughout a convention Tuesday. Bynum’s contact data was saved in Dwumfour’s telephone with the acronym “FCF,” assumed to imply “Hearth Congress Fellowship,” a church they had been each affiliated with.
Dwumfour had since married Peter Ezechukwu, the pastor of a prosperity gospel church known as Champions Royal Meeting, reported The Related Press. A household legal professional instructed AP Information that the arrest leaves the household with “much more questions at the moment than there have been earlier than.”
“We've got an alleged assassin in custody in Virginia, however now they're making an attempt to additionally perceive the connection, how this individual got here to focus on Eunice, what was the rationale,” household legal professional John Wisniewski mentioned in an interview with AP.
An eyewitness account described a “skinny, black male” with “ear-length braids or dreads” leaving the scene, which matches Bynum’s bodily description within the mugshot posted by Yolanda Ciccone, the Middlesex County prosecutor, on Wednesday.
Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia. Arrested at the moment, Tuesday, Might 30, 2023 at 10:45 A.M. in reference to the homicide of Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour. Bynum was taken into custody exterior a residence in Chesapeake Metropolis, Virginia with out incident. pic.twitter.com/pnGiYP0EQa
— Middlesex Prosecutor (@MCProsecutor) Might 31, 2023
Different proof was collected from the suspect’s telephone, Ciccone mentioned. Location information positioned him driving from Virginia to New Jersey the day of the homicide after which again once more. Rental data had his telephone quantity listed for a white Hyundai Elantra that was additionally positioned on the scene. Moreover, his search historical past confirmed the suspect trying to see which magazines are suitable with a selected handgun.
The suspect was taken into custody and brought to Chesapeake Metropolis, Virginia.
Authorities proceed to search for extra solutions.