Police have arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with the killing of a councillor who was found fatally shot inside her car earlier this year.
Rashid Ali Bynum was arrested on Tuesday as officers continued their investigation into the murder of Eunice Dwumfour, a Republican politician from Newark, New Jersey. He was arrested in Chesapeake City, Virginia, around 10.45am, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone at a press conference.
Investigators said that they believed the suspect and victim had known each other through their association with the Champions Royal Assembly Church in Newark.
READ MORE: US politician, 30, shot dead while driving car outside her home
Ms Ciccone said that Ms Dwumfour, aged 30, had worked with the accused. Bynum was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful handgun possession, and second-degree handgun possession for an illegal purpose.
Ms Dwumfour was found dead during the early hours of February 1 with multiple gunshot wounds. She was discovered seated in her white SUV outside her apartment complex in Sayreville. Ms Dwumfour’s 12-year-old daughter, Nicole Teliano, was just yards away, inside their home at the time of her mother’s death. CCTV cameras showed a man running from the scene, Ms Ciccone said on Tuesday.
The Sun reported that the victim’s daughter told CBS News at the time that she thought she was hearing fireworks. “We were waiting for my mom to look for a parking space, and then she was taking a lot of time. So we started calling her over and over again, but it wouldn’t pick up,” she said. “And then we heard gunshots, and we started calling the police.”
Her husband, Peter Ezechukwu, said: “It’s so painful. Every day we think about her. We cry, I cry every day by day.”
Authorities at the time said the shooting appeared to have been targeted. The Middlesex County prosecutor added that a phone belonging to Bynum indicated that he had driven about 300 miles from Virginia to New Jersey around the time of the shooting. Detectives working on the case have not yet released a motive for the killing.
Ms Dwumfour was elected to Sayreville Borough Council in November 2021. Her victory in the election was considered an upset at the time, said The Sun. She was due to face re-election in 2024.
The day after her death, Mahesh Chitnis, an American Red Cross board member and member of the civil rights movement NAACP said on Facebook: “I am shocked, scared and heartbroken. Eunice Dwumfour, fellow Human Relations Commissioner (former), Sayreville councilwoman and a neighbor was killed 300 feet from my home this evening. She was shot while returning back home. She was a woman full of life. When she missed HRC meetings she used to call me and ask me to put her on speaker so that she could participate… We will miss her.”
