- Source: Eunice Dwumfour
Eunice Dwumfour (1993 – 2023) was a Republican member of the borough council of Sayreville, New Jersey, from 2021 until her assassination. Dwumfour was the first African American to serve in that position. She also worked as a business analyst and emergency medical technician. Dwumfour, a leader in Christian entities, was married and had a daughter.
Early life and education
Dwumfour was born in 1993, in East Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Mary and Prince Dwumfour, who are from Ghana. She graduated from Weequahic High School in 2010 and received a bachelor's degree from William Paterson University in 2017.
Career
Dwumfour worked as a part-time emergency technician and business analyst. She was elected as council member in the Borough of Sayreville in an unexpected result in 2021, after running as Republican. She had also been a pastor at an African Christian church in Newark and a director in Champions Royal Assembly, an international religious organization.
Personal life
The councilwoman was a single mother of a 12-year-old daughter and had recently married Peter Ezechukwu, a pastor from Nigeria.
Assassination
Dwumfour was in her SUV outside of her Sayreville townhouse when she was shot 14 times on Wednesday 1 February 2023 at around 7:30 pm. Her vehicle proceeded to roll downhill and crashed into several cars.
= Aftermath
=New Jersey governor Phil Murphy expressed shock and indicated that Dwumfour was the first elected official in recent memory who had been shot and killed in the state. The GOP Chairwoman and the mayor of Sayreville, Victoria Kilpatrick, both praised her. The family of the councilwoman wanted closure and hired attorney John Wisniewski, a former member of the state Assembly. For months the investigation was perceived as stalled, without suspects or motives.
Rashid Ali Bynum, a resident of Portsmouth, Virginia, was arrested in that city on May 30, 2023, and charged with the murder of Dwumfour. Bynum is a former resident of Sayreville and had been a member of the Fire Congress Fellowship, a religious organization with offices near Sayreville that Dwumfour helped to lead. A press report says that the fellowship is affiliated with the Champions Royal Assembly, Dwumfour's church in Newark, which itself is an offshoot of a megachurch with a similar name that is based in Nigeria. The prosecutor for Middlesex County, New Jersey, said after the arrest that evidence implicating Bynum includes security camera video from the murder scene, and cellphone and toll records that indicate that Bynum was in Sayreville at the time of the murder. She did not comment on any suspected motive for the killing.
Bynum was subsequently extradited to New Jersey and indicted there on murder and weapons charges on August 16, 2023. An arraignment on the charges was scheduled for later in the same month. At the time of the indictment, prosecutors had not released any evidence related to the case to the public.
Legacy
Dwumfour was the first African American to serve as a member of the council of the Borough of Sayreville.
See also
James E. Davis – assassinated New York councilman
John Huyler – assassinated New Jersey representative
Joshua Iginla – Founder of Champions Royal Assembly
References
External links
Sayreville GOP Campaign 21 - Dwumfour campaign post with her picture
Borough of Sayreville – official Council website